LAUNCH!
At long last, after delays both planned and unexpected, LongBox, Inc. released v1 of its LongBox Digital Platform on July 20th as a week-long exclusive on PCWorld.com, followed by the general release to the public on Mac & PC today.
Between interviews at the San Diego Comic-Con, a smiling Rantz Hoseley (LongBox, Inc. CEO and Founder) spoke about the occasion, the work it’s taken to get to this moment, and what’s next. “It’s been a long time coming, and although the lengthy development process has tested the team’s patience, we committed from day one to doing this right. That means not taking the ‘easy road’ sometimes, the short-term gain, and not developing a business, or a platform in a reactive manner.”
The CEO’s smile gets bigger at this point “The end result… we feel… is very much worth it. The comprehensive infrastructure and tools behind the LongBox Digital platform make it a very powerful avenue for publishers and creators wanting to bring their stories to a receptive digital audience. The same is true for the fans… the consumers… the users. The platform has gone through some fairly massive changes as a result of user feedback during the Beta process, and also to differentiate LongBox from recent companies who’ve been…” Hoseley’s mouth twists as if trying to find the best word “…shall we say, obviously influenced, by the LongBox user interface?” He breaks into laughter, as he sums up “Really, it’s fine… if they want to be influenced by what we were doing a year ago, more power to them, we’re on to the next evolution. I think as apparent as it is in the Mac and PC experience, it’ll really come slamming home this fall with the tablets.”
The LongBox Digital platform is available via the platform’s website (http://www.longboxdigital.com/longbox-software.html), via their publishing and promotional partners, torrents, and more. Content for purchase on the LongBox Digital Platform will be available starting Friday, July 30th, with new content available for purchase every Friday from a wide variety of publishing partners thereafter. As a thank you to the comic fans and their supporters, any user registering a new account before September 1st, 2010 will receive 2 ComicBlocks* for free.
*(The average single issue comic costs 1 ComicBlock. ComicBlocks are roughly equal to $1USD, and are the method of exchange for the LongBox Digital Platform)
