Following the acquisition of Amazon, comiXology fanatics can no longer buy comic books in the in-app comic book store featured in the iPad and iPhone devices, thereby cutting the 30 percent Google and Apple get from in-app purchases for every comic retailed.
In the past, comiXology users could purchase comics from diverse publishers from inside the app itself, but things changed with the new app.
"We have introduced a new comiXology iPhone and iPad Comics App and are retiring the old one," wrote the company in a blog post.
This way, comiXology, a reader and marketplace for digital comics, brings back the percentage of sales to the company, which earlier went to the two tech companies mentioned. Though the transition may affect purchases, the end result is that the publishers will earn more revenue because they are no longer partaking a percentage to Apple as well there's the possibility of various price offerings.
However, the new app is purely a comic book reader, so fanatics should visit the official website of the company for new purchases. While anyone can browse the comics and directly download free comics in the new app, the paid comics can merely be included in the wish list for later online purchase.
A new Android app for Comixology, meanwhile, was rolled out too, supporting in-app purchases through a shopping cart feature evading Google Play. Apparently, the individual publisher apps for DC, Marvel and Image, among others weren't affected so far.
As expected, many users of Comixology were disappointed by the new changes and took to social media their rants while some seemed to have accepted the changes and found its advantage in the future. To pacify the anger, the company offered a gift-card credit for its loyal customers who purchased through the previous platform.
"This credit will be automatically applied throughout the day to those accounts who are eligible and all of those eligible have 30 days to purchase books with that credit," the blog post said.
The blog post also stated that new users can go to the comiXology website and create an account. For more information on how the new app works, old and new users can go to the official blog of comiXology.
Based on company findings, about 200 million of comic books from comiXology's library were downloaded by customers.
