Amazon has finally decided to launch Amazon eBook reader officially in India. While the tablet has been available in the grey market or online in India it used to cost much more than what its official price is.
The 6 inch ebook reader will sell in India for Rs 6,999 and will be available exclusively through Croma (a Tata group venture) electronics retail store across the country.
However this ebook reader is the base model and retails for $79 (Rs 4,500) in the USA, which makes it substantially costlier in India.
Amazon has also opened its online bookstore Kindle store for Indian consumers with books priced slightly lower than their official price. And in a bid to add more Indian content to the store, Amazon has also launched Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for independent authors and publishers in India.
Amazon already operates a website called Jungle.com in India, which aggregates content from various ecommerce sites. And this is likely to be converted to an ecommerce site at a later stage.
The eBook reader has a clear 6 inch E Ink display. With 2 GB of Internal Memory and nearly 1.25 GB user memory, this affordable gadget stores up to 1400 books. Access over a million books including over two million out-of-copyright ones. It comes with a USB v2.0 micro-B connector and supports TXT, PDF, HTML, JPEG and other formats.
Read in bright sunlight without glare. It supports Wi-Fi networks for downloading free book samples. Other features include Whispersync, Free Cloud backup, 5-way controller, three hours for full charge, Quick Start Guide, up to three weeks battery life with Wi-Fi and 600 x 800 pixels screen Resolution with clear fonts.
The pricing of the Amazon Kindle in India can put it in a difficult spot, where you get full fledged Android based tablets from companies like Micromax, Karbonn etc.A