Google Play Books now available in India

After a long wait, Google has finally started selling e-books in Google Play for the Indian users. The feature, which went live last evening, is already visible on the web version of Google Play and slowly rolling out to the device-based Google Play too.

The prices of the e-books are pretty competitive in the Google Play and very similar to Amazon Kindle books and in most cases cheaper than Flipkart’s Flyte e-books.

This is certainly a welcome addition, but there is still a long road ahead for Google in India. Company is yet to begin selling Movies, Music, TV Shows, and Magazines to the consumers in the country.

“Just under one year ago, we introduced Google Play, a digital entertainment hub where you can find, enjoy and share your favorite apps and games on your Android phone or tablet. Today we’re adding books to Google Play for people in India. Books on Google Play now offers thousands of Indian titles, from new releases to classics. It’s easy to find great Indian authors such as Amish Tripathi, Devdutt Pattanaik and APJ Abdul Kalam, plus international bestsellers from the world’s largest ebook store,” Google India noted in a blog post.

Purchasing e-books from Google Play is same as buying applications; you can pay with the credit card that you have already registered with Google Play. Once purchased, you will be able to read downloaded e-books not only on Android devices but also on web, iPhone/iPad and select e-readers, which support Google e-books.

To read Google e-Books on your Android device, you will first need to download Google Play Books app from Google Play.

Google launches Play Books store in India

Android users in India had to depend upon Kindle or other third-party apps to read books on their phones or tablets. But earlier today Google launched its Play Books store in India, which is available on Android and iOS smartphones and tablets apart from PCs and Macs.

Just like the global version, Google Play Books in India gives you access to a huge database of books from all around the world. Though the app is available for free, a user will have to buy individual books from inside the app. Once you’ve bought a book, it will be available on your PC, tablet and phone for you to read.

The books start from Rs 50 upwards. What’s interesting to note here, however, is that Google launched its Books store before launching its music and movies stores in India, while Apple has done the opposite by launching the iTunes Store in India in December last year but is yet to launch the iBooks store.

You can download Google Play Books from the Play Store. Below is a short clip that shows the app in action.

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