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Kindle Unlimited Rumored to Launch in Brazil in Early 2015

1435372_394551098c_m[1]Amazon is expanding Kindle Unlimited in fits and starts, and a new rumor suggests that the next start will be in Brazil.

PublishNews Brazil posted a report that Amazon is negotiating with Brazilian publishers. Well, when is Amazon not negotiating with publishers, but in the case of this rumor Amazon is reportedly negotiating to sign publishers to Kindle Unlimited.

They go on to say that the projected launch date for KU in Brazil is early 2015, which I would be willing to bet is overly optimistic. Amazon missed several rumored launch dates before finally launching the Kindle Store in Brazil in December 2012, and I would expect that Kindle Unlimited will face similar issues.

Amazon isn’t talking about their plans for Kindle Unlimited, but my best guess is that Amazon will only launch KU in a market where they have managed to secure a minimum number of local titles. This could explain why Amazon launched KU in Spain and Italy a couple weeks ago, but not anywhere else in Europe, and why KU is available in the US and UK but not Canada, Australia, or NZ.

If and when Kindle Unlimited does launch in Brazil, it will face competition in the ebook subscription market from Scribd, which is available globally, and Nuvem de Livros, which is native to Brazil, has been operating there for several years now, and possibly has an even a larger subscriber base than KU, Scribd, or Oyster (no one is talking, so we don’t know).

According to one report, Amazon has 40% of the Brazilian retail ebook market, which accounted for under 10% of the total book market in that country. Amazon’s competitor’s in Brazil include local booksellers as well as iBooks, Kobo, and Google, and txtr.

Kindle Unlimited is currently available in the US and 4 countries in Europe. Subscribers pay $10/€10 per month to read as many ebooks as they like from a catalog of around 750,000 titles.

image by Teo

 

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Comments


The Commons November 24, 2014 um 3:02 pm

You… might want to fix that title.

Nate Hoffelder November 24, 2014 um 3:06 pm

Whoops. Fixed it, thanks.


Ebook Bargains UK November 25, 2014 um 5:29 am

Txtr has a Brazil store?

We’ll be delighted if it has, but as best we can tell, Txtr’s Latin America reach is currently Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

Elsewhere Txtr are in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, UK and US.

They also have an International store selling in euros, though not sure how far its customer reach extends.

As to KU in Brazil, outr guess is Amazon have also been negotiating with publishers in the other countries, but to no avail.

What it does show is how little confidence they have in us indies, that they won’t launch KU in Canada and Australia with just English-language self-published titles. As ever, we’re just there to bulk the numbers out.

BTW the reason Amazon hasn’t got KU in New Zealand is probably more to do with it not having a New Zealand store. 🙂

Nate Hoffelder November 25, 2014 um 5:46 am

The NZ store is in Australia, which annoys some customers to no end.

And thanks for the correction about txtr in Brazil; I didn’t realize their coverage in that region was so selective.


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[…] Kindle Unlimited: Brazil or Bust? (The Digital Reader) Amazon recently expanded its ebook subscription service to the UK, Spain and Italy. Rumor has it Amazon is now setting its sights on bringing Kindle Unlimited to Brazil early next year. Related: Subscription Ebook Leaders on What’s Next for the Model at DBW15 […]


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[…] am a little surprised to read about the launch in Brazil; when rumors of the launch went around a couple weeks ago I thought that KU wouldn't launch in Brazil until the middle of 2015 if not […]


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