Mail Today Story on the Launch of the International Version of Kindle

October 22nd, 2009

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I was quoted yesterday in a Mail Today story on the launch of the international version of Kindle.

I have the US version of the Kindle. It has more than 100 books on it and I totally love the paper-like reading experience.

When I was in Washington DC, I could download books from the Amazon Kindle Store directly to my Kindle, in seconds, through the wireless service. I remember a one-week Spring Break trip to Miami when I downloaded and read half a dozen books on my Kindle while I was sitting on the beach. When I moved back, the only books I carried with me were the ones on my Kindle.

Since I have moved back to India, I have been downloading the books to my laptop and transferring them to the Kindle. I have also realized that physical books in India are cheaper than books in the US, so the $5-10 savings from buying a $9.99 Kindle book instead of a $20 hardcover doesn’t always hold in India. Still, since I already have the Kindle, I continue to buy all my books from the Kindle store.

It will be nice if I can convert my US Kindle into an international Kindle, by paying the $20 price difference. However, I still haven’t found a way to do that.

I think the right price for Kindle in India with be less than Rs. $200 and the books will need to be priced at less than $9.99. I don’t think Amazon is in any hurry to have differential pricing for India and I don’t really see more than a few thousand Kindles being sold in India until it does.

Here’s the full text of the story –

Shell out more for a Kindle in India
Neha Tara Mehta
New Delhi, October 21, 2009

It weighs just 10.2 ounces ( 289 gm), is lighter than a typical paperback, can get you the book you want to read in less than 60 seconds, and can hold over 1,500 ebooks.

But Kindle’s international launch hasn’t kindled much interest in India.

The prohibitive cost appears to have spoiled the party for book lovers in India, where Kindle was launched just recently.

The cost at which it is being advertised is $ 279 ( Rs 12,863), but it will cost a lot more for it to be delivered to your doorstep. Users in India will also pay much more for buying a book on Kindle – the wireless reading device that will help users access e- books – than their peers in the US. Amazon, the marketer of Kindle, hasn’t revealed the number of orders it has received from India, but a spokesperson for the online world’s largest mall of the printed word said: " The cost of shipment to India, including shipping duties and tax, is $ 405 ( Rs 18,680.30)." Kindle users in India can get books in the public domain for free, but the books on sale can be worth over $ 100 ( Rs 4,612.50).

" Most new releases and the New York Times bestsellers are priced between $ 11.99 and $ 13.99 ( Rs 553 to Rs 645) unless otherwise marked," the spokesperson said.

In the US, most new releases and the New York Times bestsellers cost not more than $ 9.99 ( Rs 460.80) to Kindle users. the spokesperson said, " We will look for ways to cut costs and pass those savings to customers." There’s no clarity on whether Kindle users in India will have access to the full Amazon booklist because of geographical rights issues. Indian classics, authors and translations may also not be available in large numbers. Book critic Nilanjana S. Roy likened the Kindle launch to that of the iPod in India. " It may take a while to get the pricing right. I don’t see it becoming a runaway hit in the first year. A five- year timeline could change a lot of things," Roy said.

For existing Kindle users here, the launch comes as a bit of a disappointment, as they have already spent time and money acquiring the gadget from the US. Gaurav Mishra, CEO, 20: 20 WebTech, who picked up a Kindle six months ago from the US, said: " I haven’t found a way to align my US model with the one that has been launched in India.

My Kindle is linked to my US credit card." " For markets such as India, the sweet spot is 10K or less," Netcore Solutions MD Rajesh Jain said.