ScrollMotion Offers Graphical ‘Daniel X’ for iPhone

By Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 3/4/2009 9:20:00 AM

iPhone software developer ScrollMotion scored another bestselling author for its Iceberg Reader application, announcing an agreement with Hachette Digital to publish an unusual graphic novel adaptation of the James Patterson’s Daniel X: Alien Hunter for the iPhone. Originally published in December, the graphic Alien Hunter, adapted into comics by Leopoldo Gout and Klaus Lyngeled, joins Maximum Ride, which is being adapted in a manga-style graphic novel by Hachette’s Yen Press, as the latest Patterson series to be converted into a graphic work. The Iceberg e-book can be purchased through Apple’s iTunes Store.

ScrollMotion Iceberg reader is a proprietary application that allows books to be read on the iPhone. In this case, ScrollMotion debuts a new Iceberg feature that allows the reader to swipe and scroll through a quasi-animated full-color visual narrative that generates pop-up word balloons and text boxes. Using Iceberg, Daniel Hunter X: Alien Hunter plays across the iPhone screen like a movie composed of still images.

Hachette Book Group CEO David Young, called the Iceberg Reader “an elegant, comprehensive way to read in the digital space,” and said the deal was part of HBG’s ongoing e-book strategy. 

John Lema, CEO of ScrollMotion, said, “Daniel-X represents the debut of an entirely new way of viewing graphic content on the iPhone, in a true-to-life way,” adding that the company had approached Hachette about converting the book into graphic form for the iPhone. “The goal is to take advantage of the features in Iceberg and bring the book to the iPhone. And we’re looking to do more,” Lema said. ScrollMotion also offers titles for the iPhone from Random House, Penguin, Counterpoint, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Simon & Schuster.