We first had a India low cost Laptop....Then a India specific browser...Now a Bangalore based company has announced the release of a e-book reader for Indians. EC Media, will release Wink, the ebook reader in all Tata Chroma stores across the country by Sep 1st.
Techtree has published a review that you can access here
Priced at Rs. 11,490, the Wink resembles the Amazon Kindle in appearance and form factor. As for the e-books repository, you can visit the Wink Store that claims 1 lakh pls titles in English, Hindi and other regional langauges. The e-titles would be priced at 60-75% of the paperback editions.
While the current Wink XTS with its 6 inch screen is priced 10K+, there is mention of a Wink XTR with a 5 inch screen that is supposed to be priced lower. I hope the price falls below in the 4k to 5K range so as to be accessible to a bigger section of the Indian audience.
What price range would prompt you to go for one?
Comments
As I see, there is much more to come.
These reader device( Be it magazine, books, music ) need to be delivered to people as a news magazine OR TV show does on a day to basis at a very best cost.
I would expect new business models on this. Players are content makers, device makers, ISP's, mobile service providers and middle men.
A month back I was at a farm and the labors were listening to kannada songs through their mobile while they were at work. Most of the content now is uncharged and considering numerous languages, rich culture and interests there is thousands and lacs of content which people are interested to get handy access on them and this interest irrespective of society levels they belong to.