Amazon.com reportedly acquired Lexcycle, the company known for making the popular Stanza e-reading application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. 

 

It's a quite interesting move from the online retail giant. The first thing that I can think of is Amazon's Kindle e-book reader, but it's quite difficult to find a link between the two, because Amazon already has a Kindle application for the iPhone and the Kindle reader already has and uses proprietary software. 

 

The Kindle application for the iPhone grants its users access to the Kindle store which has more than 270,000 titles, while Stanza offers only 100,000 titles. 

 

Most analysts and market watchers raised an eyebrow when Amazon made this move and tried to figure out what the online retail giant is planning. Considering the fact that the Kindle application is a better offer than Stanza and a far more established brand, the only logic explanation for this move might be that Amazon bought it simply because it did not want it to fall in the hands of a competitor. 

 

However, this may not be only a defensive-preventive move. Amazon may also want to add some Stanza features – such as Book Trailers which gives users a video preview of a book before purchasing them – into its Kindle application. 

 

Stanza users shouldn't worry much about this move. At least this is what LexCycle wrote on its site.  

 

"We are not planning any changes in the Stanza application or user experience as a result of the acquisition. Customers will still be able to browse, buy, and read e-books from our many content partners."