Lexcycle, creators of the popular Stanza digital reader for mobile phones, announced today that their application has been downloaded 500,000 times--reaching a vast readership in four months.

The application allows users to read books on the iPhone and iPod Touch, offering free downloads of titles that range from The Prince to Moby Dick. From the release: "Each day, over 40,000 books are downloaded wirelessly from Stanza's Online Catalog, which offers a wide range of free books and periodical content from a variety of sources in more than 20 languages."

In addition, Neelan Choksi, the Chief Operating Officer of Lexcycle, has submitted his name to fill a vacancy on the Board of Directors for the International Digital Publishing Forum--an organization dedicated to the future of the digital book. His application joins some other big names in publishing, including Leslie Hulse (HarperCollins' Vice President of Digital Business Development) and Stephen W Smith (Vice President of Digital Products and Services at McGraw-Hill).