Amazon Kindle Flies to Japan This Year but When Will it Land?

By | 29 June, 2012

In 2011, it was rumored that the Amazon Kindle was coming to Japan, and it seems this news is soon coming to fruition. Amazon has finally given confirmation that it will sell its sophisticated yet affordable e-book reader to Japanese consumers likely within this year at 20,000 yen (US$ 257), reports Asiajin.

In 2010, Amazon.com Inc. figured out how to crack Apple's stranglehold on tablets by making a half-size, no-frills tablet. The result was the Kindle Fire, which sells for $199 -basically, the cost of production. Amazon has sold millions of them, and has announced plans to bring the Kindle platform and devices to Japan. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Amazon may have joined the tablet competition a bit late but that doesn’t mean it makes them in last position. They regard the Kindle Fire and the Kindle e-book platform as a pivotal growth driver in the company’s vision. CEO Jeff Bezos once told  The Telegraph that the Kindle offered “[e]very book ever printed, in print or out of print, in every language, all available within 60 seconds.”

At Amazon.co.jp, where the world’s largest online retailer has been selling physical books in the country, now includes the official Kindle branding. There is also a link inviting those who are interested to sign-up and receive more information on the launch.

The Amazon Japan blog also says that customers will not only be entitled to have the device but also have access the company’s massive collection of e-books and video inside its virtual bookshelves. France, Germany, Italy and Spain already have access to the Kindle stores since 2011. As such it’s not a surprise to see more regions covered, although the US$ 837 million e-book market in Japan hasn’t really taken-off yet due to difficulties in publishing rights.

According to an earlier report by Reuters, Kindle was supposedly planned for launch in April, after Amazon’s discussions with Japanese publishers, while the Kindle Touch was planned for launch as a Kindle Japan flagship model. NTT DoCoMo was to be the first carrier to partner with Amazon for the wireless download of content over the carrier’s 3G connection. In March, Kadokawa Group signed an agreement to have their content digitized and distributed for the said tablet.



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