Marvel and Comixology To Sync Purchases
Posted by geeksyndicate on August 10, 2012
If you go on your tablet on the hunt for some Marvel superheroes, there are two places you could purchase Marvel’s array of digital comics on the Marvel Comics app linked to the digital Marvel Comic Shop, or with ComiXology, the revolutionary comics platform that brought the power of Guided View Technology and unlocked the potential of the traditional comic book in the digital age. Unfortunately ComiXology and Marvel accounts were separate entities with no simple way of syncing purchases between them. Until this week.
This latest development is the evolution of the two companies entering into a multi-year publishing partnership back in May, where ComiXology got exclusive rights to distribute Marvel’s English language single issue digital comic worldwide. ComiXology currently is in such agreements with numerous other publishers including Image, Archaia Press, and Marvel’s arch-rival DC Comics.
ComiXology co-founder and CEO David Steinberger had this to say: “This is just another step towards providing the best customer experience for all comic buyers no matter where they buy their Marvel comics.” He added, “Fans can now not only read all their Marvel purchases on their Marvel Comics app and comiXology app and use both apps to get the latest can’t-miss super hero epics every week.”
Customers on either Marvel Comics or ComiXology apps can synch their accounts through logging into either account and selecting the sync command where they will be asked to enter their account and password details of the other company to initiate sync.
This could be a hallelujah moment if not for the fact it took the companies three months since the agreement to get round to sharing the goods, and not to mention that Marvel has been using a ComiXology-powered app since 2010. Still, better late than never.
With the agreement with Marvel now more-or-less in effect thanks to the Great Sync, this further cements the fact that ComiXology is the leading platform for distributing and accessing comics on tablets and the Web. With few comic companies outside of the ComiXology sphere of influence, the clock is ticking over whether publishers like Dark Horse (with its consistently so-so app) and Rebellion (who just recently launched a 2000AD app) can fully consolidate their independent positions or eventually have to succumb to the might of ComiXology and its handy Guided View Technology.
Sources: Marvel, ComiXology
GS Reporter: Dean Simons
