I’m a big user of Comixology on my Nexus 7; especially after the popular comic app made the tweaks necessary to perfect the platform for Google’s popular 7″ tablet.
lekiosk is a bit like Comixology except rather than comic books it works with big magazines from the likes of the BBC, Conde Naste and Dennis Publishing. Geeky titles in the system include the BBC History Magazine, Bizzare, Stuff UK, BBC Knowledge Magazine and a few others.
The company is growing steadily. It launched in France where it is already on 25% of iPads and raised $7.1m in a Series B funding round.
The deal with ASUS puts lekiosk content into ASUS@vibe+.
This means the 800 English, French and Italian titles will be available to ASUS tablet users (including the Nexus 7 and some Transformer Pads) through lekiosk’s interface.
The ASUS@vibe+ platform is larger than just magazines and extends to music, video, ebooks and games. The approach suits hardware vendors like ASUS who are looking for ways to add value and tie customers into their ecosystem (a trick Apple does very well). It also suits publishers who are looking for a controlled, safe, way to distribute digital content.
It can’t be long before we see some startup RPG magazines launch in this format.
