In a shocking bit of late afternoon news, Amazon.com, Inc. has acquired Lexcycle, the company that created the iPhone reader, Stanza. The online bookseller now owns the two top Book related applications in the Apple App Store.

Earlier this year, Amazon unveiled a new, free iPhone application that allows customers to read Kindle books on mobile devices. While the program is intended to add mobile functionality to the Kindle, readers can use the app without purchasing the $359 digital reader. Previously, Stanza led that category with an e-reader that has been downloaded over one million times, and held the top spot on the Apple App Store for months.

Here's more from Lexcycle's statement: "We are not planning any changes in the Stanza application or user experience as a result of the acquisition. Customers will still be able to browse, buy, and read ebooks from our many content partners. We look forward to offering future products and services that we hope will resonate with our passionate readers. We are excited to join forces with a company that has innovated on behalf of readers for over a decade and is a pioneer in ebooks. Like Amazon, we believe there is a lot of innovation ahead for ebooks and we could not think of a better company to join during this exciting time."