It sounds like your bitter because you don't have an iphone and are using the mobile platform that almost no one chooses (palm pre?)

More over points contradict itself, how in the world can the comics cannibalize the print but then not be new since its just repurposed content as you say? What proof do you have? Your taking a position based on an assumption that hasn't been proven.

Obviously you lack business sense, why would any one develop for mobile platforms that have no users (palm pre). Simply put you sound bitter

Hum, if I wanted an iPhone, I would get one...

Where do my points contradict themselves? Please elaborate. Not a mind reader here.

Not sure that you understand what the term cannibalizing means in business either. If the same product is offered on two platforms, one platform cannibalize the other, especially when the same customers are targeted. I want to see new comics never seen before on the iPhone and other mobile platforms. That's gonna move mobile comic books forward, not the same old stuff just packaged differently.

Before claiming that I know nothing about business, verify your own facts. You sound like a typical iPhone fanboy frustrated about criticisms levied against his toy.

Contradiction:

You say there's no new material for the i-phone its simply recycled content that already exist yet it cannibalizes the print media. This isn't likely considering the content is much older that has already been purchased if at all. You actually are growing the audience because less likely that your going to cannibalize the comic buying market and actually grow it since your selling comics they likely either missed or didn't buy the first time around. What digital comics do is allow for more sampling since the price is cheaper and more discovery.

Why iphone (which I don't own) because the market is there. Another thing you failed to do is look at the numbers, after black berries, iphone's are the 2nd most popular smart phones in terms of ownership. Palm pre...not so much, if there was a market for them Mr. Business digital comics would be rushing to be

I believe comics apps should also be black berry-friendly. Basically any mobile device that has the minimum required hardware and software for effective Web browsing should be supported.

how is it that the content that is already sold is not cannibilizing but getting new customers? You accused me of making an argument on assumptions, yet your assumptions are more wide ranging then anyting I wrote above. How do you know that the comics converted are old?

How can you claim that the audience has missed out on the originals? How do you know that the mobile comics are not already available as collected editions?

If you're gonna criticize someone for their methods, make sure yours is spotless.

I still don't see your argument against cannibalization, but mine arguing it occurs is based on extremely good knowledge and understanding of Web comics where it has been demonstrated that repackaging contents from print hurts the print edition while not providing contents adapted to the platform.

I think this article is very underdeveloped and hinges its argument on easily solved problems.
The first problem seems to argue iPhone and iPod apps are not towards a "real demographic" and your use of the term "tiny market" for a demographic (I believe iPhone and iPod users a demographic) which is actually quite big and profitable, as demonstrated by the wide range and success of many apps for these platforms. Marketing is not designed to create unity, which is something you suggest with arguing for a widespread form of an app across multiple platforms. Instead, marketing and advertising are designed to create divisions and gaps in order to encourage consumerism. Also, the final sentence of your first problem is without qualification, of course comic readers are using these devices and adding a general comment without any proof actually discredits you (as does your sensationalist title).
Your other arguments do not discuss the possible advantages of an app for reading comics while hinging on the very small if of someone not being able to create an app which will allow for easy reading of a comic (which argues against problem 2, of course their are advantages, which add to its value). This is very possible and I would argue inevitable, which will make this entire article completely void. As soon as an app is created which allows for ignoring the technology or, indeed, a user gets used to the technology, the content will once again become the focus, as will the advantages, something Reall Infin is trying to illustrate. For example, users of the app would no longer require a store and trying to find that sold out copy of Secret Warriors #4 out a few months ago if these could be easily downloaded by an app. The durability of a comic on an iPhone or iPod as opposed to flimsy paper could become a serious consideration as well. In short, an app to read comics would emphasize something modern culture loves: convenience and immediacy.
Finally, repackaging is the name of the game. Comic singles to TPB, TV to DVD (as you suggest), putting out a continual stream of collector's editions of everything, and many other ways as well, each with distinct advantages and disadvantages. Reselling a product is cost-effective Your article ignore advantages while emphasizing disadvantages easily solved or disputed.
And as a side note, I own none of these declarations of perceived social status and I don't have a prejudice against any of them (except maybe all of them).

"(I believe iPhone and iPod users a demographic) which is actually quite big and profitable, as demonstrated by the wide range and success of many apps for these platforms"

1-You're committing the error of attributing the potential market as the actual segmented market that is interested in comic book apps. Read my business plan article where I explain the difference between a potential and a targeted market. You guys may think I know nothing about business but I sure didn't flunk out of business school and have written my share of business plans not to make the simple error you did above. Potential markets mean nothing. it's the targeted ones that matter.

2-You rely on data on the success of ALL iPhone apps to determine that comics app will succeed. Video game apps are different than fart apps and different from personal information managers or apps that allow you to draw on your iPhone. These are all targeted towards different consumers. You can't guess the success of comics apps based on other apps which for all intents and purposes are for different types of users. Doing this, you assume that anyone who comes across a comic s app will buy it. You say that you understand marketing, but obviously you don't.

3-About marketing and unity. You know that there was a time where all TV and ALL commercials were intended to ALL consumers. Are you sure that marketing is always about creating segments and gaps? Here you argue in one paragraph that all iphone users are comic book buyers and in the next, you argue that it's all about segmentation. Please make up your mind.

4-The purpose of the article was not to discuss the possible advantages of mobile comics. There is a link within the article to another article I wrote that did just that. Why would have have to write an article about everything? Besides, as I noted above, I was writing about comics for mobile devices when no one in the industry was considering it. I should know, I asked every single publisher I met at the 2008 San Diego Con what were their plans and none had even begun to go in that space or consider it as a serious platform (they were still trying to figure out Web comics).

5-The problems associated with the mobile interface being suitable for comics is not something stupid you can just brush aside. Just believing it will be fixed is simple blind faith in technology and ignoring the fact that if it doesn't work now, it's not gonna have strong legs in the future. Will someone fix it? Maybe. Maybe not. If it were so obvious and easy to fix, it would have been fixed before the first comics app was ever released. My job is not to write about a nebulous future. It's about pointing out problematic issues in the present. You say my article is irrelevant. I think otherwise. I think a lot of mobile app makers related to comics or not are pouring over it to figure out what they can do to make their app user friendly. In a sense, by being so critical, I'm making sure problems are fixed for the future. There are few people in the comics industry that ever take the time to deal with such issues and point out problems everyone just like ignore.

"users of the app would no longer require a store and trying to find that sold out copy of Secret Warriors #4 out a few months ago if these could be easily downloaded by an app"

6-If that app doesn't allow the user to print the comic book, then it has failed. The very format for Secret Warrior #4 was not made for a tiny screen like the iPhone. It will therefore always be non user friendly and require the user to fiddle with technology instead of reading the comic book.

7-I have comic books I received when I was a kid that are still with me today. As any kid, I rough them up, but I can guarantee that they are in a better shape and easier to read than any mobile device I use today. In 15 years, any mobile device I own today will not be suitable to read any mobile comics I have today. Any device I own today will probably have long stopped working and be in some dump in China creating more toxic waste. But any comic book I buy today will probably be in a decent reading shape in 15 years from now. Your argument about durability is extremely off track.

And that's why I'm advocating for an open form at for ALL mobile comic books so that if the iPhone, the Black Berry, The Palm Pre, Androids and anything from Nokia were to disappear or change completely, all those mobile comics I bought today could still be read. That's why closed platforms are not consumer friendly.

I have nothing against reselling a product in several formats. But if you do, please adapt it properly to the format you are adapting to. Again, go from TV series to DVDs. Don't go from TV series to IMAX. It's not in the interest of the consumer and when they start to realize that, you've killed the golden goose.