Amazon supports five Indian languages for its Amazon India operation (ebooks only, not print or audio).
But it’s been left to a domestic Indian outfit to try plug this particular gap in the market.
One might think that a language market of 300 million people would be an enticement for a company like Amazon to offer Bengali as a supported language for its Kindle ebook store.
Amazon does, after all, support five Indian languages for its Amazon India operation (ebooks only, not print or audio).
But it’s been left to a domestic Indian outfit to try plug this particular gap in the market.
Of course without Amazon’s deep pockets and expertise in this sector the Bengali ebook store will lack the volume and finesse of the Kindle India store, but Ketab-e with its 50 title store is a welcome first step
Per the press release,
Neither Bengali classics nor books by modern-day authors are available in a format that can give you a nice reading experience. So, we started discussing among ourselves and finally took the plunge when people showed interest in the proposal of a Bengali e-book library.
The Android version of the app launched July 17, and an iOS version will follow, but clearly 50 books to cater for a 300 million strong marketplace means there’s a lot of work ahead for the Ketab-e.net crew.
One way to address this might be to take a look at neighbouring Bangladesh, which thus far they clearly have not.
I say that with the confidence that arises from the Ketab-e.net assertion that the site is the world’s first Bengali ebook store.
In fact Bangladesh, where Bengali is the main language, albeit known locally as Bangla, already has a smattering of ebook stores, although as TNPS readers will know, Bangladeshi publishers have mostly been fiercely resistant to any digital shift.
