News
Comixology App to Merge with Amazon Kindle
posted on by Anita Tai
Comixology revealed on Tuesday that its Comixology app is merging with Amazon's Kindle app. The original Comixology app will be discontinued from December 4. Customers can still read graphic novels and manga on the Kindle app and via Amazon's website. The Comixology Unlimited service will continue.
Jeff DiBartolomeo, General Manager of Comixology cited a statistic of 93% of comics, graphic novel, and manga customers coming from Kindle in a statement regarding the merge.
The announcement comes after Amazon laid off a majority of the staff at Comixology in January.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy previously stated on January 4 that the current economy was a factor in this decision, and that the company's goal was to pursue "long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure." McGovern confirmed that according to a note sent by Amazon's retail CEO Doug Herrington, the layoffs are "part of a wider effort to lower [its] cost to serve."
Amazon acquired Comixology in 2014. In February 2022, Amazon integrated Comixology into Kindle.
Comixology launched the paid subscription service Comixology Unlimited in May 2016. The service includes manga from Kodansha USA Publishing, Dark Horse Comics, Seven Seas, Viz Media, Yen Press, and more publishers. Before the subscription service, Comixology had also partnered with publishers like Viz Media to release manga on its platform. The company licensed manga pioneer Shōtarō Ishinomori's catalog in 2012.
Sources: Comixology's Twitter account, The Beat (Heidi MacDonald)
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. Yen Press, BookWalker Global, and J-Novel Club are subsidiaries of KWE.
