It seems that Amazon could very well make sure their latest Kindle store will be delivered to the Land of the Rising Sun as early as the end of 2011, at least that is what Japanese newspaper Nikkei Business Daily and wire service Jiji Press claim. At press time, Amazon operates in Japan, selling print books in that part of the world, but are also in the final stages of negotiations with publishers like Kodansha, Shogakukan, Shueisha and Shinchosha. I guess those publishers share the universal worry that their e-books will be sold at depressed prices, eating into the profit margins.
Will Amazon’s presence cut into their business? Perhaps, as Amazon does seem to be “making headway in negotiations by proposing a framework in which the timing and scope of price cuts would be discussed with publishers in advance,” at least that is what Reuters reported when it came to the Nikkei story. No word on whether Amazon will roll out a Japanese-language Kindle e-reader, but we do know that Amazon does intend to establish an online e-book store so that users can download content to smartphones and tablets.