Seattle — Amazon has acquired iPhone e-book application maker Lexcycle, citing the need for continued innovation in the e-book reader market.
Amazon said it acquired Lexcycle, supplier of the Stanza e-book reader, but would not reveal any financial or transaction details.
Amazon said it purchased Lexcycle because “it’s very early days for e-books, and we believe there is a lot of innovation ahead of us. Lexcycle is a smart, innovative company and we look forward to working with them to innovate on behalf of readers,” said a spokeswoman.
Lexcycle says its Stanza is the most popular e-book reader with more than a million users. Stanza is a free download on the Apple App Store that launched in July, offering over-the-air e-book transactions from a library of 100,000 books and periodicals.
Lexcycle said no changes are planned in its iPhone/iPod Touch application, according to a blog on its Web site.
Lexcycle’s Stanza uses an open e-book standard called ePub, which Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader does not yet support. ePub is the standard from the International Digital Publishing Forum.
Lexcycle stated, “It has been an amazing experience to see Stanza grow out of our brainstormed ideas into one of the most downloaded iPhone applications … We are excited to join forces with a company that has innovated on behalf of readers for over a decade and is a pioneer in e-books. Like Amazon, we believe there is a lot of innovation ahead for e-books. and we could not think of a better company to join during this exciting time.”
