'Diamond Digital' for September launch

Diamond Comic Distributors has announced that its digital service is launching in September.

Powered by iVerse Media, Diamond Digital will help brick and mortar comic retailers to sell digital content through their stores.

Participating retailers will be able to offer customer incentives through the programme, such as digital back issues and the option to purchase a digital copy of any print comic they buy for an extra 99¢ (60p). Digital titles will also appear in stores first.

"The September launch date has actually been our target for months, but we didn't want to announce it until we'd passed certain critical unit testing benchmarks," said Diamond director Dave Bowen. "This worked out well because of the way our beta test group of retailers has evolved.

"After we put together our beta test group, an international assembly of more than fifty businesses, the participants suggested many great ideas and improvements, including added functionality in support of the individual retailer web-site based part of the initiative."

More than 30 major publishers - including IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Archie, NBM/Papercutz, and Top Shelf - are backing Diamond Digital, which will offer new releases alongside a library of almost 2,000 back issues.

Diamond Digital will be beta tested in stores throughout August.