Jennifer Rose will not be very excited about this. But I certainly am.
Kindle news always interests me -- especially when it involves Mexico.
Yesterday Amazon announced two big developments. The first is the launch of the Mexican Kindle Store.
Now, to we Kindle users who imported our e-readers, that does not sound like a big deal. After all, we have been buying electronic books online for years. It took Amazon a bit of time to work out the kinks, but anyone with an Amazon account could buy books no matter where they are in the world.
But that was the problem. Not everyone could open an Amazon account. As of Thursday, my Mexican neighbors can sign up for electronic book purchases at the Mexican Kindle Store. 70,000 titles in Spanish.
Buying books is only half of the formula. Electronic books can be read on a number of platforms, but I prefer reading mine on a dedicated reader. There are a lot of Kindles in Mexico. But, until Thursday, they all were shipped across the border.
No more. Librerías Gandhi, Mexico's largest bookstore chain, will sell the Kindle line -- for prices close to those above the border. Even my beloved Paperwhite with its side-lit screen.
It will be interesting to see how this business model works. Most Mexican villages -- and a number of its cities -- do not have bookstores. I am certain some wag will point out that is because Mexico is not a reading country.
The stock market believes electronic reading is the wave of the future for Mexico. Amazon's stock was up 1% on the announcement of the opening of the Mexican Kindle Store.
It would be nice to see more readers in my village. Even if they are reading on their smartphones.
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