Amazon.com Inc. officially launched its India Kindle Store on Wednesday, offering over one million titles to its customers in the subcontinent.
Kindle devices are now also available for direct sale. The U.S. e-commerce giant has struck an exclusive deal
with Croma Retail stores for the sale of the basic Kindle e-reader
across India. Initially, the device will be priced at around 7000 rupees
($127).
- Eric Piermont/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
- The basic Kindle costs around 7000 rupees in India and will be available only in Croma retail stores.
The e-book reader has Wi-Fi connection and a total storage capacity of two gigabytes, allowing it to store up to 1400 e-books.
Other models, such as the Kindle Fire and the Kindle Touch – which
have more storage space, larger screens and 3G Internet connection –
are still unavailable for direct sale in India.
Indian publishers cheered the news. “ For publishers it is great,”
says Kapil Kapoor, managing director of Roli Books. He was hopeful that
the Kindle reader and store will help them reach new readers and expand
their sales.
Prices for e-books on the Kindle store start under 100 rupees ($1.8) and are slightly cheaper than hard-copy books.
For instance, S. Hussain Zaidi’s recently released book “Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia” is priced at 202 rupees on Kindle, compared to the 293 rupees the paperback version costs on Flipkart.com (including delivery) and the publisher’s official price of 350 rupees.
Apart from English titles, the store offers a selection of regional language books in Hindi and Telegu.
The store also includes a free collection of classic titles, including works by Charles Dickens and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, for which copyright has expired.
Readers can also download the Kindle application to sync their e-books with their Apple or Android devices.
In addition to the Kindle India Store, Amazon.com also launched Kindle Direct Publishing, a self-publishing tool.
The launch of the Kindle India Store is the latest sign of Amazon’s
push to expand its presence in the country. Earlier this year, the
company entered
India’s online retail market with Junglee.com, a portal that allows
customers to buy a wide range of products from stores or directly from
sellers.
Source : http://blogs.wsj.com/
Comments