Marvel is actively developing a singular app that will replace Marvel AR, Marvel Unlimited Subscriptions and their dedicated Marvel app. The company is hoping to have more power and control of their digital empire. This may upset their current partner Comixology, which processes all of their sales for iOS, Android and a myriad of other platforms.
Marvel right now is hiring a bunch of positions to take their various apps they have developed over the course of the last two years and make a new version. This will not only be made for mobile platforms but also on the web. Paul Degnan, Director Of Web Development at Marvel Entertainment recently said “We’re about to open some positions for frontend. If you think in closures and love local scope, if the coolest responsive design tricks are your obsession, come meet us! The company has also posted a series of job listings to work on this yet-announced secret project.
So what exactly is going to change with this new singular app? Marvel AR is basically an app that lets you use your phone or tablets rear facing camera to get extra features in print and digital comics. You can think of it as augmented reality, its something that hasn’t quite taken off yet, but a growing number of users are actively checking it out. Marvel Unlimited is basically there digital subscription platform, where you pay a low-monthly fee and get access to older comics. The marvel app, as it stands, is developed and run by Comixology, who has the majority of the digital comic market. Marvel really wants to combine all of these features into one app, to make it easier to market their AR and Unlimited services, which are basically relegated to the sidelines and don’t have the hefty user population that their comic reading app does.
Sources at Marvel have told Good e-Reader that they are in the early stages of the development cycle. They have an action plan on what they want to accomplish and need to bring in proven external talent to fast-track the process. I have heard that they want announce this at South by Southwest in Texas in 2014.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.