Today comiXology will introduce a continuous bookmarking feature for all of its comics apps, which Venture Beat reports will permit users to pick up reading on one device where they left off on another.
The feature, called simply Continue, will remember the last page a reader viewed on, say, her iPhone, so that when she moves to her iPad, she won't have to flip through pages to find her place. As Venture Beat's Tom Cheredar notes, Continue probably won't be a big deal for those who buy their single issues digitally; however, for readers of graphic novels and collections, it'll likely be a revelation.
"It’s true that the continuous bookmarking may seem like a small feature, but its little elements like this that make comiXology’s reading experience better than its competitors," Cheredar writes. "(Seriously, reading a comic on iBooks or Kindle feels so rigid by comparison because it lacks things like the panel-by-panel Guided View feature.) Hopefully, we’ll see more little additions in the future, such as annotations, and being able to view comics without having to download them."
It's been a good year for comiXology, which on Monday was revealed as the third-highest grossing iPad app of 2012, up from No. 10 the year before. The company followed that with the announcement that it has served more than 2 billion pages of comics since its launch three years ago.
Update (9:30 a.m. PT): ComiXology has officially announced Continue. You can read the press release below:
ComiXology Debuts “Continue” Feature
Lets You Pause Reading & Continue Across All Your Digital Devices
Also debuting today: enhanced social sharing features.
December 18, 2012 - New York, NY – ComiXology – the revolutionary digital comics platform available across the iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows 8 and the Web – introduces “Continue” a simple and easy automatic bookmark feature now available nearly platform-wide with this feature arriving on the Web soon. ComiXology users can now Continue reading their current comic at the same place they paused across the entire platform.
Continue solves the problem of losing your place while reading a comic across multiple devices. Now comiXology users can read their digital comics on the go with their mobile device – for instance, a phone – and then Continue from the exact same page on a different device – perhaps a tablet.
“This feature is another upgrade in a long line of innovations comiXology has brought to digital comics,” says comiXology co-founder and CEO David Steinberger. “Our vision is to turn everyone, everywhere into a comics fan, and by creating the best user experience possible with features like comiXology Continue we’re doing just!”
In addition to Continue, comiXology is also debuting enhanced sharing tools. Previously only available at the end of a book or from the store, the new tools lets you share via Facebook, Twitter and email no matter where you are or what page you’re on.
Recently announced as iTunes’ #3 top grossing iPad app of 2012, comiXology has over 30,000 comics and graphic novels from more than 75 of today’s hottest publishers, giving comiXology the widest selection of digital comics anywhere. ComiXology’s availability across iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows 8 and the Web makes it the best digital comics platform for current, newly interested and lapsed comic, current and graphic novel fans.