Digital store Flipkart offers e-books online

Bangalore : India’s leading e-commerce brand Flipkart.com’s digital store Flyte has forayed into selling e-books online to change reading habits of book lovers.

“Readers can buy and read their favourite books on their computing and mobile devices through Flyte e-books application, which is available for Android operating system,” Flipkart’s vice-president Sameer Nigam told IANS here Sunday.

With a rich selection over 100,000 books, including 4,000 free titles, some of the e-books are priced as low as Rs.30 to encourage reading online.

“We have a growing, tech-savvy reader base, which is looking for options to buy and read their favourite books on their mobile devices instantly,” Nigam said.

In the US and European markets, which have been early adopters of e-books, the market share for digital books is currently at 50 percent. In US, the e-books market recently crossed $1 billion in annual sales.

The application also allows readers to exit reading a specific book on a particular device and resume from the same page on another device, make notes, highlight text and add multiple bookmarks.

The company plans to offer e-books on Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows 8 soon.

“E-books are a logical progression in our plan to be India’s online mega store from a digital goods perspective. We started with music, which has become a hit with netizens. We are upping the ante by offering e-books now,” company’s marketing vice-president Ravi Vora said on the occasion.

Commenting on Flipkart’s digital initiative, renowned English author Jeffrey Archer said Flyte’s e-books store would create a whole new generation of readers across India.

“It’s a natural step in the right direction for Flipkart, which is known for its extensive collection of books – ranging from bestsellers to the rarest of titles,” Archer added in a statement.