While the eBook business explodes in North America - where the Kindle has kindled a huge technological competition and given rise to other readers like the Nook and iPad - it is also making gradual inroads in India. Not only are people starting to get used to the idea of reading their favorite Books on a digital reader, but local Indian publishers are beginning to study the potential for ebooks and ereaders.
For example Infibeam, one of India's most popular online bookstores, first introduced a reader called the Infibeam Pi - with a Vizplex display, 600×800 resolution, black and white grayscale and a 4-way navigation button. The Infibeam has 64MB of RAM memory and the capability to use an SD card for up to 4GB of internal memory. The whole thing weights about a third of a pound and sells for about $220.
One of the best features of the Infibeam is that it supports a good range of formats including EPUB, PFF, TXT, MOBI, JPG, HTML, and MP3 - among others. Formatting is becoming increasingly important in order to provide ebooks for the gorwing number of ebook reading devices.
Of course most people using ereaders in India will first look elsewhere for their reading devices. The Kindle, for example, can be bought over the Internet on Amazon and shipped for about $20 plus around $50 in custom fees. So on delivery the Kindle will cost the Indian consumer about $350.
But the real issue with the India market - at least for the time being - is not which device. Most people in India still consider ereaders to be too expensive in general, so they are reluctant to give up their traditional books and conventional reading habits in favor of books that have to bought from online bookstores for $10-$20 and then downloaded to a somewhat pricey ereader. A more affordable option currently preferred by most Indian readers is to use a computer - either a portable or desktop - and connect to ebooks sites, where they can download and enjoy thousands of different titles for free.
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