The Digital Reader

From the press release:

Square Enix today announced that it will launch a digital manga store serving customers in North America and France in the fall of 2010. Localized electronic editions of such popularSquare Enix manga series asFullmetal Alchemist® andSoul Eater® will be made available for the PC via theSquare Enix group’s North American and European websites.

Given the increasing popularity of electronic reading formats, Square Enix has decided to take advantage of the online distribution infrastructure originally developed for its games business, along with the company’s existing payment system and online fan communities in order to establish a paid digital distribution channel to better serve the varied needs of its global customers. Square Enix will continue to work with its existing regional publishing licensees to promote both electronic and print versions of titles, while aiming to deter piracy by establishing an official web-based distribution source.

You can catch a demo of the new service at Comic-Con.