{"id":14312,"date":"2012-10-23T19:10:19","date_gmt":"2012-10-23T19:10:19","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-10-23T19:10:19","modified_gmt":"2012-10-23T19:10:19","slug":"Amazon-to-launch-Japanese-language-Kindle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=14312","title":{"rendered":"Amazon to launch Japanese-language Kindle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Online shopping giant Amazon said today that it will launch a Japanese-language version of its hugely popular Kindle next month as it looks to break into the largely untapped Japanese e-book market.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The retailer’s long-awaited announcement comes a day after Apple unveiled its new iPad Mini<\/strong>, the latest volley in the battle for the multi-billion-dollar tablet sector.<\/p>\n

US-based Amazon said in a statement that it would begin selling 50,000 Japanese-language titles from Thursday<\/strong>, while its Kindle Paperwhite became available for pre-order on Wednesday. It is expected to start shipping on November 19.<\/p>\n

A Japanese-capable Kindle app will be available for computers, tablets and smartphones from Thursday, the company said.<\/p>\n

The wifi only Paperwhite will have a price tag of 8,480 yen ($107), while the 3G-equipped version will sell at 12,980 yen, Amazon said. Both prices are lower than on the US website.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The new Kindle Fire HD with an 8.9-inch (22.6-centimetre) display that was unveiled in the United States last month will be released in December in Japan<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

Japan’s existing e-book market is largely a niche affair, mostly comprising comic books for mobile phone users.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Only a limited number of novels and non-fiction titles have been digitized in a country where the unique language protects publishers from foreign competition.<\/p>\n

Amazon’s announcement of 50,000 titles is broadly in line with Sony’s nearly 60,000 offered in its own e-book store for use with a proprietary device, but falls well short of the “millions” of titles Amazon.com offers to US customers.
\n
\nIn July e-commerce giant Rakuten launched its Kobo e-reader in Japan, saying it would initially be able to offer around 30,000 titles, but was aiming to grow that figure to 1.5 million over the coming years<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Japanese publishers, already facing falling paper book sales, have so far been reluctant to digitize their books for fear that e-books could kill physical sales.<\/p>\n

Experts say Amazon’s entry could trigger a significant expansion of available digital book titles over the next two to three years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Source AFP<\/em>
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