You could log in and Kindle this Diwali

Well,first of all,they’ll be able to read e-books — books that aren’t printed on dead trees. Reading on a Kindle does not feel like reading on your phone or on a computer; its revolutionary E-Ink screen sees to that. The screen is not backlit,nor does it refresh itself many times a second: this means it hurts the eyes a lot less than electronic screens. Nor is reading a book on Kindle like dealing with a real paper book: for one,even heavy books are light — the Kindle weighs 300 g.

For another,you can change the text size,so if books are always printed too small for your eyes,that can help. And then there’s the option to have the Kindle actually read aloud to you from a book,in a mellifluous — if American-accented — voice. Oh,and you can carry thousands of books,an entire library,on a camping trip — and not charge it for a week.

Kindle’s competitors — one made by Sony — have solid following internationally; but Kindle’s USP has always been first,the fact that it is backed by Amazon’s vast library of books; and second,that it can download any of those books near-instantaneously over a built-in cellphone connection.

So you could go online,buy a book,and start reading immediately,sitting absolutely anywhere. But till now that was linked to the US cellphone carrier Sprint. The big news is that Amazon has dumped Sprint to tie up with rival AT&T; and now,starting October 18,the tagline is that “whether you’re in Paris,Mumbai,or São Paulo,you can think of a book and be reading it in less than 60 seconds.”

AT&T has roaming tie-ups in India,according to its customer guidelines,with Idea,Airtel,and Vodafone. So the Kindle’s online bookstore will be accessible anyway. But the device — aside from playing MP3s — is also supposed to provide internet access. Indeed,it is supposed to provide unlimited internet access,without a single monthly payment.

Are India’s cellphone companies prepared for people wandering around sucking up bandwidth — with the bills going upfront to AT&T in North America?

Then there are questions of import pricing. The $270 doesn’t include duties. Atul Chitnis,a Bangalore-based tech consultant,calculated that Amazon will charge an “import fees deposit” that will take the price above $400,or about 18,600 rupees.

Plus there will be thorny questions of who gets paid for the book you’ve just bought. (All books are available at a flat rate of 450 rupees,cheap for a new hardback,a little expensive for an old paperback.) Many books have different publishers in the US,UK,and India. If you buy Harry Potter from Britain,it is published by Bloomsbury; from the US,by Scholastic. But if you buy it from Amazon’s UK store in India on a Kindle bought from the US,who gets paid? Bezos told Wired magazine that they are “negotiating an arrangement with English-language publishers that pays royalties depending on the territory of purchase.” But that means all Amazon’s books won’t be instantly available.

Lakhs will be,though. And suddenly questions of book-banning by India’s states will become moot; India’s jurisdictions won’t be able to control which books Amazon is selling,unless they block Amazon.com completely.

But will it catch on? Could you see someone in your neighbourhood Barista reading a Kindle next month? The Kindle is built stylishly,but — unlike the iPhone,say — isn’t glamorous. But you could easily imagine an eighth-grade student you know carrying just a Kindle to school,with all his textbooks on it. You could imagine your grandmother,who has trouble with her eyes,getting to read the latest Dan Brown in large text — or having it read out to her by her Kindle.

You could imagine businessmen using it to read the Wall Street Journal for well below the market price,or to keep up with stocks on the internet,free,and on a large screen. Either way,this Diwali,there’s a new gizmo in town.