Just weeks after being acquired by Amazon , Comixology has discontinued the in-app comic book store it once featured on the iPhone and iPad versions of its popular app.
Now Part of Amazon, Comixology Ends In-App Purchases on iPhone, iPad
Fans are grumbling about changes to what has been called the iTunes of comic books after its buyout by Amazon.
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Previously, users of Comixology’s iOS app could buy comics from various publishers from within the app itself. That made those sales subject to Apple’s 30-percent piece of the action on all in-app purchases.
But Comixology’s new iOS app is strictly a reader. It requires users to download comic books from a Web site and, by doing so, lets Comixology dodge Apple’s in-app purchase tax.
Comixology has rolled out a new Android app as well. It still supports in-app purchases, but it does so through a new shopping cart feature that bypasses Google Play, allowing the company to avoid paying the search giant a cut of its sales.
The separate apps for purchasing and reading comics from Marvel and DC, which are based on the Comixology service, are so far unaffected.
Some Comixology users were upset by the end of in-app purchases on iOS and vented on Twitter. Here are a few comments.
I suppose @comiXology just decided they no longer want any of my money. Hope someone else fills the gap. #comixology
— Anthony Edwards (@Anthony_Edwards) April 26, 2014
That didn’t take long for @amazon to screw up @comiXology. I’ve spent hundreds through the app. Why make it harder for me to pay money?
— James Finley (@thefinley) April 26, 2014
Didn't take long for Amazon to ruin @comiXology Time to find a new way to get my digital comics on.
— Marc (@mrcsh) April 26, 2014
Comixology did have a few defenders, some with more conviction than others:
People: understand this @comiXology move will mean more money going to creators of the actual books. This is a good thing.
— Nick Spencer (@nickspencer) April 26, 2014
So Comixology has 86’d the iOS store. Might be good news for comic creators in regards to the cash split, but yeesh that site needs work…
— David Crane (@daveycraney) April 26, 2014
New York-based Comixology has been described as sort of an iTunes for comic books, one that emerged as the medium pivoted away from paper and toward the iPad and other tablets. Last fall the company said its customers had downloaded 200 million comic books from its library.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
