Fans of the Amazon-owned Stanza e-reading app for iOS have been granted at least a temporary reprieve: Amazon on Thursday released an update to the app that fixes a slew of problems that affected the app when running on iOS 5.
Macworld reported earlier this month that Stanza wouldn’t run properly under iOS 5; at the time, Amazon failed to respond to numerous requests for comment regarding the app’s future. Until Thursday, Amazon hadn’t released a Stanza update in nine months.
Although Thursday’s update addresses various crashing and usability bugs, Stanza fans may be left wondering just how long the app will continue to function. The company’s customer service team told one Macworld reader via email that after releasing this update, “we will no longer be updating or supporting Stanza… We would like to thank you for your interest in Stanza, and let you know that Amazon is committed to providing the best reading experience on iOS though the Kindle for iPhone, iPod and iPad apps.” A Macworld staffer received a very similarly-worded email from Amazon customer support as well, though we have yet to receive official confirmation from Amazon’s public relations team.
Amazon acquired Lexcycle, the original developers of Stanza, in 2009. Though the app can’t display Kindle books, it does offer support for ePub, eReader, PDF, Comic Book Archive, and DjVu book formats. Stanza devotees praised the app’s plentiful customization options for text display.