EC Media launches eBook reader Wink, brings India's first eBook ecosystem to consumers

MUMBAI, INDIA: EC Media International announced the launch of its e-book reader Wink XTS, the first of its devices, which brings with itself India’s first multi-functional e-reader that supports upto 15 Indian languages.

Wink will offer consumers a one-stop e-store to access the e-reading content of choice through thewinkstore.com which would enable readers to access e-books, journals, newspapers, magazines (through subscriptions) and selected articles, all easily available on the Wink portal.

With this launch, EC Media also announced a partnership with Croma, the electronics megastore as its retail partner. With the Wink brand, EC Media aims to build an ecosystem of players that fosters e-reading market by leveraging the best of technology to the consumers.

Users can enjoy reading a wide range of content from EC Media’s soon to-be-launched service WINKWIRE. WINKWIRE is another feather in EC’s cap, being the world’s first e-newspaper. Wink encompasses both International and regional e-book titles, e-newspapers, e-magazines and journals, across 15 languages. thewinkstore.com allows users to access the online store from the web portal or the device portal (through the catalogue present on the device) – intuitively designed for preview of content, easy downloads and secure payment transactions.

Wink also aims at helping publishers and authors in leveraging this new platform, simplifying the process of publishing from the draft of a book to its publication and also helping them reaching out to a larger audience. Wink's ever increasing eco-system has enrolled leading publishers like Penguin, Roli, Oxford University, Harper Collins and Permanent Black and many other publishers for content so far. Wink will provide access to about 200,000 tiles to readers along with some newspapers and magazines as well. Wink has also tied up with Redington as its distribution partner.

Ravi DeeCee, founder and CEO, DC Group, said: “With the launch of Wink, we aim to revolutionize the way people read. Wink would allow readers to access their favourite content anytime and anywhere, in the language of their choice."

Ajit Joshi, CEO, Croma Electronics Megastore, added: “With experts predicting huge growth for e-reading market, we believe that Wink is going to be a great success in the market owing to its product value and kind of demand that awaits it. From a consumer perspective it’s going to be a resourceful investment and would enhance their reading experience with it’s variety of offerings”.

Pradeep Palazhi, COO, EC Media said: “With the launch of Wink, we want to enable the growth of content provisioning through the electronic medium by leveraging its existing eco-system of global partnerships with publishers and aggregators. We hope to succeed towards attaining this vision”.

WINK from EC Media International is supported by the DC Books Group headquartered at Kottayam, Kerala, which was India’s first ISO certified publishing house.

I checked the winkstore, which lists the Wink XTS at Rs. 11,490, and the Wink X3G at Rs. 14,990, respectively. Both will start shipping from Sept. 1, 2010. The Wink X3G+ and the Wink XTR are said to be coming soon.