The Comixology Meltdown And Cloud-Based Problems

On 10Mar13, Marvel and ComiXology - the popular online and tablet e-comics retailer - launched a special offer; 700 Marvel comics for free. Surprisingly, for a business that is built on cloud-based comics retail and storage, inadequate thought was put into capacity planning. Comixology's servers ground to a halt. Not only were the free issues inaccessible; existing purchases were no longer downloadable, although those on devices could still be read. However, like most people, I don't store every comic I own on my iPad. In the case of those comics purchased through the Marvel app (based on ComiXology's technology and pulling from ComiXology servers) I have spent the last week trying to restore them all, since I had to uninstall the app in order to clear the errors created by the failure to load the free comics.

The point of this is actually not to specifically beat up on Marvel or ComiXology; rather, it is to look at the whole model of cloud-based application delivery and content storage. The comics "purchased" are not files that are transferred to the buyer; rather, you are given an unlimited usage license. You do NOT own the comics you buy. This is a problem when the retailer - ComiXology - is no longer able to deliver the files to the license holder - me. What happened here, of course, is a technical problem, one that has been corrected. However, it does lead one to ask some serious questions, the most important being "what happens if ComiXology is no longer in existence?" With physical media, or with electronic media transferred to you, this is not a problem. Most people have the expectation that when they "buy" something, they will have the use of it for as long as they wish.

It also shows the limits of cloud-based solutions. When there are network problems, when you don't have connectivity, or when the provider fails to plan for increased usage, then the results can be catastrophic. While not being able to download my comics does not rise to the level of catastrophe, if this had been business critical information, then the "sorry about that" response from ComiXology would have been met with derision. As we become an increasingly electronically-based society we need to take steps to ensure the information we depend on is constantly accessible and stored in a way that guarantees it cannot be lost due to a single system failure.

If your entire model is based on convenience and accessibility, then you have to deliver those things reliably. This week, ComiXology and Marvel failed to do this...and called an entire model of business and information distribution into question.