In October last year “social reading” iPad app Readmill announced support for Adobe DRM-protected ePub and PDF formats, and integrated into the Kobo book store, among others. Prior to these moves Readmill had been locked into a complex method of users needing to get books and documents into the ePub format for them to be able to use the app and make annotations, bookmarks and share content. It’s now taking its formerly iPad-only reading expirience to the iPhone, with the app going live in the iTunes store today. This should help broaden the startup’s appeal, clearly.
Henrik Berggren co-founder and CEO of Readmill says: “When you’re reading and relaxing at home, you might use an iPad, whereas in more confined or busy places, or on the go, your iPhone may be preferred. We were finding that a growing number of our users wanted to read their ebooks in this way and the ability to read via a smartphone has been the most requested feature within our existing community to date – so this was a natural next step in development.”
The app allows users to share excerpts and comments on books using a Twitter-like follow model where users can follow books, other users and, crucially, authors. These author tools are pretty powerful, allowing readers to Tweet the Twitter handle of an author when they start reading.
Readmill’s staff of 10 is backed by Index Ventures, Passion Capital and Wellington Partners.
Readmill has other competitors in the space including Rethink Books, OpenMargin and to some extend GoodReads and Amazon’s Shelfari.
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