Flipkart launches Flyte eBooks store for Android

Flipkart.com's digital store Flyte has forayed into the eBooks category. To read these eBooks one needs to download the Flyte eBooks app. At present, this app is available only on the Android platform but will be making its way soon to Windows 8. It is not clear by when can one expect this app to be rolled out on other platforms such as iOS and BlackBerry.

The Flyte eBooks store currently has 100,000 books starting from Rs. 30. There are also about 4,000 free titles available.

Sameer Nigam, VP, Digital at Flipkart.com said, "This is the perfect time to launch eBooks in India. We have a growing, tech-savvy reader base that is constantly on the go - and they are looking for options to buy and read their favourite books on their mobile devices instantly. In the US and European markets, which have been early adopters of eBooks, the market share for digital trade books is currently at 50%. In US, the eBooks market recently crossed $1 billion in annual sales."

"eBooks is a logical progression in our plan to be India's online megastore. With music, we started with something that Indians are familiar with, from a digital goods perspective. With eBooks we're upping the ante by entering into a new space", said Ravi Vora, Sr. VP - Marketing, Flipkart.com

Commenting in the launch, Indian author Chetan Bhagat, said "Flipkart is at the cutting edge of innovation and it has been as much a reason for the growth in Indian publishing as the publishers and the authors. It changed how books were sold in India with an amazing online platform, and now its new eBooks initiative with Flyte will take book distribution to a new level. I am very excited about my books being accessible in new modern formats and hoping this makes India read even more."

While British author Jeffrey Archer said, "It's exciting to see a whole new generation of readers being created in India with the Flyte eBooks store! It's a natural step in the right direction for Flipkart which is already known for its extensive collection of books - ranging from the bestsellers to the rarest of titles."

Flyte eBooks will offer Indian readers

• An Android app that allows readers to instantly purchase, download and read their eBooks on a mobile device
• A free sample of each book on the website /mobile app
• The ability to read each eBook on up to six devices
• Sync your reading location - which means you can exit your book on a particular device and start reading from the same point in another device
• Take notes, highlight text, search, add multiple bookmarks