My thoughts on the Flipkart eBooks app

Flipkart sells eBooks only for readers in India. The eBooks are in a proprietary format. They can be read only with Flipkart's eBook reader app available from Google Play Store, Apple iTunes store, Windows Store or their online Web Reader. Interestingly, their 30 day replacement guarantee is also applicable for eBook downloads. Flipkart has a pact with Nokia to have this reader app pre-installed with select Nokia Lumia devices.

Occasionally, you may get better deals in India from Flipkart on popular titles than you would on Kindle or ePub versions. They claim to have 70,000+ eBooks in the price range of Rs. 99 and below and over 20,000 free eBooks. 

Good titles however aren't easy to find in those categories. Better discover-ability of books and recommendations can make this ebook format more appealing to Indian book lovers open to go digital.

I tried the Flipkart eBook Android app on my Nexus 7 tablet and though it was not as slick as the Kindle app, it has most of its features. The highlighting feature feels awkward and it is a complete spoiler for me. The other feature in Kindle that I sorely missed in the Flipkart app is that it is not possible to jump to a specific location.

I liked the screen reader option which allows you to control the speed at which the content is read. Though the voice is automated, it is decent and this feature makes your ebook double up as an audio-book. You can utilize this option to let the app read you to sleep! This feature can help those whose primary language isn't English to learn the pronunciation of complex words.

Hopefully, the growth of mobile devices & the healthy competition between ebook vendors like Kindle, Kobo and Flipkart eBooks will bring down prices and get more Indians to read. That's good news!