Bookworms rejoice — Amazon.com has finally launched the Kindle Store as well as the latest Kindle e-book reader in India. Thus far, we only had limited options to buy the device: either directly from Amazon USA, which would ship only to select places in India, or through its Indian subsidiary Junglee.com and importers on eBay.in. However, obtaining the gadgets through these routes carried the risk of not getting a warranty, as India was not among the list of eligible countries. Now though, Amazon has officially introduced the ad-free, Wi-Fi Kindle with a 6" e-ink greyscale screen to the market. Sold with a one-year warranty, the e-reader is available for Rs 7000 at all Croma retail outlets as well as CromaRetail.com. Here are the specifications of the Kindle:

• 6" E-Ink display, 600x800 (167 ppi), 16-level greyscale screen.
• 6.5" (h) x 4.5" (w) x 0.3" (8.7 mm) (d), 170 grammes.
• 2 GB internal storage (1.25 GB user-accessible), free cloud storage for content bought from Amazon.
• USB 2.0 port for charging, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n.
• File formats: Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC, HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion.
• Charging time: 3 hours; Battery life of 3 weeks with Wi-Fi on and 1 month with Wi-Fi off.
• Colour: Graphite, Comes with 1-year manufacturer warranty.

More importantly, Amazon has also launched its India-specific Kindle Store where you can buy e-books in Indian Rupees. However, magazine and newspaper subscriptions are not available at the moment. Additionally, the company has also launched Kindle Direct Publishing for independent authors and publishers from India, allowing them to make their books available for free or a royalty.

TAGS: Tablets, E-Commerce, Amazon, Kindle, Jayesh