It has not been a good couple of weeks for Amazon. After merging Comixology with Amazon's Kindle store and rolling out the disastrous Comixology 4.0 app in early February, the Seattle-based company experienced significant backlash from users. As a result of the merger, a lot of features were lost like Smart Lists, comic subscriptions, the ability to make stacked purchases and read comics on a desktop computer. On top of that, users unfamiliar with Amazon's "Content & Devices" section under the "Accounts & Lists" menu had trouble locating their comics library, purchase history, and DRM-free downloads.
Other issues that arose from the merger were the loss of past comic book purchases from users who didn't merge their Comixology accounts with Amazon and blocking access to customers outside of the US and UK. This is just the tip of the iceberg of problems users have reported and keep reporting. Coincidentally, a week after Amazon's ill-conceived Comixology upgrade, its Japanese competitor for digital comics and manga, Kadokawa, also upgraded its Bookwalker app with improved new features without eliminating features users were already enjoying. In fact, there are a lot Amazon executives could learn from Kadokawa's Bookwalker upgrade if they want to improve Comixology for both mobile and desktop.
One thing Bookwalker and Comixology originally had in common prior to the Amazon merger was that they both functioned as digital one-stop shops for fans of comics and manga. In addition to selling digital versions of manga, Bookwalker also sells digital versions of light novels, magazines, and Japanese-translated versions of popular American comics. Bookwalker also has a global store for international manga and light novel fans to purchase English-translated versions of licensed Japanese properties. Interestingly, international fans who can read Japanese are also able to purchase the original Japanese-language versions of manga and light novels from outside of Japan without paying any international taxes and fees.
Comixology also had global versions of its store prior to the Amazon merger but rarely sold comics translated in other languages and incorporated international taxes and fees. While the merger with Amazon may have seemingly removed this barrier, it actually didn't and only ended up restricting comic purchases by region. International manga and light novel fans who can read Japanese are not able to purchase digital versions of their favorite stories from the Japanese Kindle store due to license restrictions. Similarly, non-US or UK-based fans of comics from American publishers like DC, Marvel, and Image are not able to continue following their monthly comic series. One thing Amazon can do in a future upgrade is figuring out an international license so that fans outside the US and UK can continue following their favorite series.
Another feature Bookwalker and Comixology had in common prior to the Amazon merger was the ability to read digital books on desktops. While Bookwalker doesn't have a guided view like Comixology due to the simpler layout of manga pages compared to American comics, it still has features that enhance the reading experience. One of those features is being able to read the comic in fullscreen mode and being able to zoom in and out. Two features Bookwalker's desktop viewer has that Comixology never had is the ability to bookmark and make notes on pages that can be deleted later. This tool is especially handy for manga and light novel reviewers. While Bookwalker doesn't have page navigation the way Comixology had, readers are still able to navigate the table of contents from the menu bar and jump to the chapters they need. Reintegrating desktop viewing to Comixology could go a long way to improving the reader experience.
As for upgrades, the most notable upgrade Bookwalker made to its system is better filtering and searchability features, which is a major feature that was lost with Comixology's merger with Amazon. Prior to the recent upgrade, Bookwalker only allowed users to sort their books based on the purchase date, author, and alphabetical order. With the recent upgrade, Bookwalker incorporated its own version of Comixology's Smart Lists feature. Users can now filter their purchases by reading status, download status, category, bookshelf, rating, and borrowing expiration date. Reintegrating Comixology's Smart Lists feature would do a lot to improve the user experience with the new app.
Another feature that improved significantly with the recent upgrade is book organization. Prior to the recent upgrade, Bookwalker didn't group digital books by series or author and listed every volume in a series individually, which made for a cluttered library. With the recent upgrade, this feature was added with the option for readers to view their library through title or cover only, or with both. Readers can also now group their library by a bookshelf, which is a feature unique to Bookwalker. The bookshelf allows users to create multiple bookshelves to organize their favorite series and have the flexibility to arrange their books however they want like an actual bookshelf. The closest the new Comixology app has to this feature is Library (formerly known as My Books) but is quite limited in its sorting, grouping, and filtering capabilities.
One feature Comixology used to have prior to the 3.0 app upgrade that Amazon could've benefited from reintegrating is in-app purchasing. The new 4.0 app allows users to download samples of comics and manga that interest them but are not able to purchase the comic within the app if they want to keep reading. The new app doesn't even allow users to tap an Amazon link to open that comic in the web browser and make the purchase like Comixology 3.0 originally did. Instead, if users want to buy the comic or manga, they have to search for it on Amazon's website and buy it with one click. Users can't even buy the comic on Amazon's app and can only send a sample to their device.
The ability to make in-app purchases didn't go away with Bookwalker's recent upgrade. While Kadokawa missed a huge opportunity to make significant improvements to Bookwalker's global store, its Japanese store remains intact. Users can still browse the Japanese store for the manga, light novels, and magazines they want and make the purchase inside the app with the same functionality as the web store. Users can also manage their subscriptions and pre-orders within the app just like they can with the web version.
Between Amazon and Kadokawa's updates to their digital comics and manga reading apps, it's clear Kadokawa understands their target audience better than Amazon does. The latter has a lot to learn about the digital comics market before implementing any changes that can potentially ruin the digital comics-reading experience. Turning the current Comixology app into Kindle Lite was not the way to go, especially if it meant getting rid of features that made reading digital comics and manga a delight.
