Amazon brings Kindle to Brazil to face new Apple

Largest e-commerce company in the world and direct rival of Apple, Amazon starts today which internally calls its "second phase" in the country. In an attempt to enlarge the scale of local operation, the Brazilian subsidiary announces this morning the launch of Kindle Paperwhite (in two versions, with and without the 3 g technology), its most advanced digital reader for $ 479 the simplest model, with broadband access system with wireless technology, via Wi-Fi, and R $ 699 version with 3 g. The new model comes five months after the worldwide release and three months after the first release in Brazil, with a simpler version for $ 299.
In the same year, Amazon plans to launch in Brazil its tablet Kindle Fire, said Alexander Szapiro, Vice President of Kindle for the country. The product is sold in four formats in the us. The Kindle Fire will compete directly with Apple's iPad, and with the Nexus 7 Google, both already is on sale in Brazil. Asked if the release of Paperwhite before the Fire for an order of products out there, Szapiro, denied it. "We launched what we feel ready and now is the time of Paperwhite."
Amazon has agreements with mobile operators to offer free data packet on Kindle, so that user Paperwhite can access the page and buy the books. Amazon pays the cost in 175 countries. In the case of Brazil, the appliance will be imported and marketed in the sites of Amazon and Ponto Frio. Can be found also in the bookstore of the village and in the four kiosks from Amazon in shopping centers in São Paulo and Rio.
Amazon's distribution network is much smaller than the Apple. In addition, the base of the Apple devices capable of downloading books is much higher in the country, with strong brand exposure. The value found that Amazon is in the second of this reader market, behind the Apple, and would have sold about 50 thousand units of the Kindle since its launch in December. On the leadership of the rival, Szapiro said: "Ninety percent of the time we invest in customer satisfaction and the 10% remaining, we believe in competition."
The point is that without an exhibition and sale of Kindle, the client will not have easy access to the appliance. "We are working on it," said Szapiro. But this is not the only front. Szapiro said that the volume of books for sale has increased, with expansion in the volume of negotiations with publishers. In December, there were 13 thousand titles in Portuguese, a number that has now reached 16 thousand titles. "Sell with prices of 30% to 35% smaller than the bookstores," he said.
Some 100 publishers in Brazil have already signed a contract with Amazon. Among the free titles, the number rose from 1.5 million to 2.5 million in three months. The volume of books, with prices in dollars, increased from 1.4 million in December to 1.6 million now.
The Kindle Paperwhite comes to the country by about twice the amount charged by the models in the United States-the basic Kindle released in December for $ 299 already cost little more than the double of the value out there ($ 140).