At long last, at least one Google Play content service other than apps has been made available in India – as of today, Android users can purchase books from the Play Store in the country. Users should see a message about signing up for new offers when they open the Play Store on their devices, with an image visible on the featured carousel on top indicating the availability of books.

The collection seems to be good enough for now – The Hobbit, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, and the popular Indian fantasy series The Immortals of Meluha and its sequels are the titles prominently featured, with a lot more available otherwise as well. Users can either purchase the books directly or read a free sample where available, though free samples seem to be available for only international titles.

When it comes to prices though, it seems Google is charging quite a high amount for some books. For example, The Hobbit costs Rs. 651 on the Play Store, while Flyte, the popular e-book store of Flipkart’s, has it listed for only Rs. 171. Similarly, The Light between Oceans is Rs. 1,091 on Google Play and only Rs. 858 on Flyte, though that’s a minor disparity compared to The Hobbit. Most books however are similarly priced on both stores, so maybe we’ll see price reductions on some of the offerings on Play after a while.

You’ll need to download the Play Books app before you can start reading these books, and the Play Store will prompt you to install it the first time you attempt to select to read a sample or buy a book. Before you do start buying though, it would be best to compare prices on both Flyte and Google Play so that you don’t end up paying extra unnecessarily. Oh, and you might not see the Play Store app on your device updated yet, but it shouldn’t be long before the update reaches everyone, just make sure to keep your data connection on.

Now to wait for Google to start offering music and movies as well on Google Play. But chop chop, off to read you go!

Source: Google Play