Lexcycle has been acquired by Amazon

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by tompe

This seems like circular reasoning. Kovid gave a good reason and then you try to say this is wrong and the reason is X since X is the only good reason to buy Lexcycle.

It might seem circular, but it's not, really. Think about it for a minute: They literally achieve nothing by buying Lexcycle unless there's something that Stanza does which their current holdings (Mobipocket and the iPhone Kindle app (whether you consider them the same thing or not)). The reason Kovid gave (to squash alternative formats) isn't a reasonable explanation, because buying Lexcycle doesn't do that. And development of Mobipocket is ongoing (at least, as of August 2008).

In addition, it doesn't make logical sense for them to abandon the MOBI format entriely, or Mobipocket specifically. They get royalties from the MOBI format, and the more that format is used, the better position they'd be in. (If you owned the rights to the MP3 format, would you be looking to move the world away from it?)

And I think you're right about the AZW format: The idea is to (eventually) extend the MOBI format in such a way as to make AZW files feature-enhanced (a kind of "MOBI+"). They can do that without destroying the MOBI format, and without discontinuing Mobipocket or squashing Lexcycle.

The other thing you have to think about is this: What if the Kindle fails? If that happens, and Amazon has made the MOBI format anathema to most ebook readers, then Amazon is well and truly screwed. It's much better for Amazon to split the difference, and keep the MOBI format going, in case the Kindle fails.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

It might seem circular, but it's not, really. Think about it for a minute: They literally achieve nothing by buying Lexcycle

The kill the standardization effort for distributing books using the net.

[volwrath]

I think Sony and Fictionwise need to collaborate on an iphone client to limit the damage amazon can do. Frankly I am shocked Sony doesnt have an app out yet.