Adding Kindling to the Fire: Amazon Buys iPhone Ebook App Maker Stanza

Amazon has bought up Lexcycle, makers of the Stanza ebook reader for iPhone, increasing the retailers presence in both the ebook and iPhone market.

Amazon’s Kindle reader for iPhone has proven to be a resounding success…at least for folks who have a Kindle. Now, Amazon looks to be increasing its presence in both the iPhone market and the broader ebook market by acquiring Lexcycle, makers of the popular iPhone ebook application Stanza. Unlike the Kindle, Stanza supports ebooks published in the open epub format from the International Digital Publishing Forum; over 100,000 books and periodicals are compatible with Stanza—and Lexcycle also offers desktop versions of its Stanza reader.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Lexcycle says it is not planning any changes to Stanza as a result of the acquisition.

The acquisition heats up competition for mobile—and iPhone—screen real estate amongst ebook publishers. Barnes & Noble acquired eReader maker Fictionwise last month in a bid to improve its presence on mobile devices; with the Lexcycle acquisition, Amazon looks to be attempting to improve its presence on mobile devices. Industry watchers are already forecasting Amazon will begin integrating the more-mature Stanza with its existing Kindle application for iPhone to create a coherent platform. One area ripe for development would be phone-based purchasing of Kindle and eBook content—a feature that would no doubt be aided by the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0’s in-app purchase capability.