Sun Jun 22, 2008 3:26PM7 comments ›
Sun Jun 22, 2008 — by Karl Cramer
iPhone: Your New Comic Shop?
Pundits speculate that comics on iPhone could be big business
Ever since the Apple iPhone's debut, tech-minded comic fans discussed it as the ideal platform to read comics in the 21st century. When your friends talk about it, it's utopia dreaming. When the suits talk about it -- especially if they can make money -- it's a step closer to becoming reality.
A recent Reuters story detailed how the downloadable cell phone comic business could explode in Japan when the Apple iPhone debuts there for the first time on July 11th. Manga have caused the mobile publication market to double in the last year to a $204 million business. The iPhone would allow for even more natural reading of comic pages, with a large screen, the ability to zoom on different panels, and turn pages. The latest version of the iPhone will be cheaper, faster, and most importantly, include 3G technology for faster Internet connections. With an emerging business model already in place and ideal technology being introduced, a "perfect storm" for cell comics could emerge.
If cell phone comics become successful overseas, expect American comics to follow the trend. With print publishing continually under pressure, don't be surprised if the big four comic publishers in the U.S. start meeting with Apple (if they're not already) to have digital comics offered in the App Store.
Superman on your iPhone might even make reading comics chic.
Jump to comments (7) 
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Comments (7)
Glenn Hauman (9:07 PM on Sun Jun 22, 2008)
Incidentally, ComicMix comics look dang good on an iPhone.
Brian Goldstein (8:09 AM on Mon Jun 23, 2008)
The digital three tier subscription (viewable on any mac/pc) has got to be the only sensible way forward.
1. Online subscription.
2. Online subscription with hardback as soon as story arc finishes - posted directly from printer/distributor.
3. Online subscription with (cheaper) trade paperback as soon as story arc finishes, from Amazon and other retail partners.
This is obviously bad news for retailers, but think of the trees that would be saved:)
I'd sign up for a mixture of 2 and 3 for pretty much every title I buy - in fact, I've already stopped buying single issues (except for secret crisis/final invasion) as the stories are written as 6 issue arcs in most cases.
Anonymous (12:50 PM on Mon Jun 23, 2008)
If Marvel's digital comics were iPhone friendly I'd join.
Anonymous (1:04 PM on Mon Jun 23, 2008)
Ooptions 2 and 3 sound great to me!
Jasmine Loucks (2:29 PM on Mon Jun 23, 2008)
This is just making me think about the pads in Star Trek that they can do anything from write reports to read novels on. The future is now!
Russ Rogers (4:31 PM on Mon Jun 23, 2008)
The iPhone is just too small. My eyes aren't that good. Even on a 17" monitor, I'm expanding the page view to catch details and read small print. Now a color Kindle? Something with a larger screen. No monthly service charges. Something where I would only have to pay for the download fees for the books I want and I could read a sample of the book for free to see if I want it.
Ah well, they don't make a "Kolor Kindle" and I doubt that one will be coming in the near future. I don't even know how well the Kindle handles graphics. But it's nice to dream.
"Next Man," by Roger McKenzie is available on the Kindle! This was one of the FEW comic books I could find on available for the Kindle. The others being "Liberty Girl" and "The Adventures of Chrissie Claus." There seems to be an opportunity here for some intrepid comics company that could get their works quickly into digital format.
Neil Gaiman likes the Kindle.
Anonymous (4:53 AM on Tue Aug 12, 2008)
FileMagnet is the best solution at the moment for reading your comics. It does not degrade the JPGs or GIFs at all so zooming in is a sharp as your original image. You cannot flip through the images but have to go back and reselect but I have to say this is the almost the best solution. Only problem is that FileMagnet runs out of memory after opening many images. I opened about 60 before it ran out. It also cannot handle big PDFs (I tried a 12Mb one) which a problem native to the iPhone itself anyway.