Amazon buys comiXology - removes purchasing from Apple and Google apps

Sooner or later, someone had to succeed in digitising comic books. Stan Lee almost went bust trying it in the early 90s, but finally comiXology managed to make it work (aided by easy to access WiFi and tablets). For the past couple of years, the comiXology app has been one of the most popular for in-app purchases on the Apple Store, helping boost the flagging sales of traditional, paper comics.

Of course, success breeds attention, and comiXology have drawn the attention of no less than Amazon, who snapped the company up earlier this month. All well and good, Amazon has a reasonable reputation for investing in their acquisitions.

Last week, however, news broke that comiXology would start enforcing local pricing structures, making their products considerably more expensive outside of the US (which makes sense for paper comics - they have distribution costs to pay for - but not for digital products). Then on Sunday Amazon really dropped a curve ball by removing in-app purchasing completely from the Apple and Google versions of the app. Users of any non-Amazon version of the app are now forced to buy their comics through the website before they can read on their mobile device. What do Amazon gain from this? Simple, Apple and Google take 30% of the puchase price from in-app purchases - money that now goes to Amazon.

comiXology on iPad no longer includes in-app purchasing

Only time will tell whether this works out for comiXology. While they'll be taking more money from Apple and Android users, they'll also potentially be putting off customers using these platforms. For the time being, however, it's safe to say it's a move that's left many users a little bit peeved.