New iPhone Reading App, Stanza, Overpowers Kindle
The power of the Kindle as well as the massive investment behind it by Amazon is well-known. Amazon hopes that someday the Kindle will be the de facto source for reading digital eBooks – and likely magazines, newspapers and other periodicals. But, the Apple iPhone has apps and Forbes says Kindle now has a significant new competitor – and due to only three people’s hard work.
According to the article, Amazon is projected to sell 380,000 Kindle units in 2008. The new Stanza iPhone App was released in July and has already been downloaded 395,000 times. On their website, Portland, Ore.-based Lexcycle and its three-person development team, says it developed Stanza to “read eBooks on your Mac or PC and share with your iPhone, iPod Touch, & Kindle.”
Forbes notes the good and the bad of Stanza. On the good side, Stanza is faster than the Kindle in turning pages and in usability. But among the negatives, it’s hard on the eyes and it eats up the iPhone’s battery.
The best part of Stanza is that it’s free – of course, you need an iPhone. Kindle costs $380. And since, Stanza uses all public domain books (currently 50 years old or more), you won’t need to purchase an eBook like you do with the Kindle.
In the future, Stanza plans to create a revenue stream for itself by allowing the purchase of newer eBooks and taking a share of the purchase price according to Lexcycle’s CEO Marc Prud’hommeaux.
October 2, 2008 – 6:37 pm