Amazon enters Japanese e-book market

Online retail giant, Amazon is entering the electronic book (e-book) market in Japan, a report from Nikkei business daily reveals, Social Barrel writes.

According to the publication, Amazon will officially unveil its Kindle e-readers in Japan within this year, which would also signal its entrance into the e-book market in that country.

Furthermore, the Nikkei revealed that Amazon is near finalisation of a deal with publishers including Kodansha, Shinchosha Publishing, Shogakukan and Shueisha.

According to Good E-Reader, currently, Sony has one of the largest presences in the Japanese market with the release of its PRS-650 model at the beginning of the year.

It made agreements with all of the major publishing, newspaper and manga companies to sell content via its Sony eBook Store.

The move into Japan was the second attempt by Sony, and this time it worked. Partly because of the wider acceptance of electronic books, but also because of the public awareness of the technology.

Japanese publishers have been reluctant to provide content to Amazon over concerns that the retailer will sell e-books at bargain prices, the Nikkei said, Business Recorder notes.

The US firm, however, appears to be making headway in negotiations by proposing a framework in which the timing and scope of price cuts would be discussed with publishers in advance, the business daily said.

Despite the buzz about e-books in the rest of the world, Japan has failed to develop the sector so far, offering only a limited number of book titles with several competing technological standards.