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etail of physical books, which is continuing to grow too,with almost 25–35% of printed books sales coming fromonline retail for many publishers.Amazon’s homegrown competition in India, Flipkart,which started as an online retailer of books, and later introducedother categories of products, had forayed intoretailing ebooks in September 2012 through its Flyte digitalstore (which started with selling music). Flyte was shutdown in May 2013. By August 2013, Flipkart launched theFlipkart ebook app for Android, iOS and Windows platforms,as well as a web reader. The company has tied upwith several Indian publishers, including publishers of Indianlanguages, beginning with Hindi, to sell their ebooks.Flipkart has said that according to Nielsen BookScan RetailPanel data, Flipkart holds 80% market share for onlinebook sales in India, and holds 40–45% market share for alltrade book sales across brick and mortar and online. InAugust 2013, Flipkart inked a deal with self-publishingplatform Smashwords, to distribute its titles in India.Amazon’s Kindle, which has brand recognition in India,made it easier for Indian customers to buy books, with thelaunch of the Kindle India Store in August 2012, which enabledtransactions in Indian Rupees (INR). Amazon hadtied-up with Croma retail chain to sell its basic e-reader,the Kindle Wi-fi 6” E Ink Display device.When Amazon launched Amazon.in, its marketplace platformin India, in August 2013, it integrated the Kindle Indiastore under that domain. The Kindle range of e-reader deviceswas also made available through Amazon.in shortlyafterwards.The ebook space in India is about to get more exciting, withthe coming of Kobo, which will soon launch here. In aninterview to the author of this report, Malcolm Neill, Kobo’sDirector Content Acquisition and Publisher RelationsAPAC, said that Kobo’s entry will drive competition. It hasalso identified a retail partner, and has been building relationshipswith publishers for over a year now.Before Flipkart and Kindle India Store set up, ebooks wereavailable from locally established online retailers, likeAhmedabad-based Infibeam and The Wink Store, which isbased in Kottayam, Kerala. Infibeam’s ebook store withover 900,000 ebooks, complements the Pi e-ink reader.When it first launched, most ebooks available through Infibeamwere those published by global STM publishers.Google extended its ebook section on Google Play marketplacein India, in February 2013. With Android deviceshaving greater penetration, Google Play is an importantplatform for content, where ebooks are priced in Indianrupees.Offline retailersOffline retailers are also making a foray into ebook retailsegment. In September 2012, Landmark retail chain’s onlinestore announced an ebooks section, and an Androidbasede-reader app. Landmark’s catalogue seems to bemade of foreign ebooks, aggregated from an internationaldistribution service.The other leading book retail chain, Crossword, is poisedto launch its ebooks retail channel by October 2013 or so,according to Kinjal Shah, the company’s COO. [N10] Crossword’splan to launch ebook retailing space has been onthe anvil since September 2012.Telecom companies join inThe telecom operator Aircel has launched Aircel Book-Mate, an ebook store for its subscribers, in mid-September2013. The store will allow its subscribers to browse, downloadand read books, magazines, and comics on theirsmartphone, tablets and PCs, through a monthly subscriptionor one-time purchase. But one needs to have an Aircelnumber to register. The Aircel BookMate app for Androidsmartphone can be downloaded from the Google PlayStore, while the iPad and iPhone app appears to be in development.In early September 2013, Vodafone tied up with Rockstand,the ereading app, to provide Vodafone subscribersto buy digital content available on the app through theirmobile bills or balance. Vodafone users are now able topurchase books and magazines at Rs 7 ($0.12) per day,cheaper than the current prices of ebook and emagazinesoffered on the app.(Telecom operator _Bharti Airtel_’s mEducation initiativein the educational content space has been mentionedabove.)By all indications, most publishers of ebooks realize thevalue of releasing books across all platforms, and they areexperimenting with creating their own reader apps. Withthe Android platform being the most popular operatingsystem in India, the Android-based apps would be the firstchoice. Cloud computing is offering a solution to createreader applications for different operating systems, whichallows readers to migrate between devices and platformswith greater ease, while being locked down to the distributionplatform.The Global eBook Report 80