E-Books in Africa

They're poised to take off, notes All Africa.

From the piece...

And the ease of access in Africa is also increasing rapidly, with new fiber-optic links, access through mobile phones, and increased competition among providers, although the pace is very uneven. With Amazon's recent expansion of Kindle to over 100 countries, including most African countries (see list at http://tinyurl.com/y8o692u), international Kindle usage is also increasing rapidly, although Amazon does not release detailed statistics.

Personally I still prefer the advantages of paper books for personal reading, and printing out selected pages from on-line files when I want to read more than a few pages. So I haven't yet invested in a Kindle (or asked for it as a gift!). But if I were traveling more frequently than I do, or living in a place with fewer bookstores and libraries, I would likely quickly change my mind, given the relative costs.

A Zimbabwean friend of AfricaFocus writes "I have used it in Zimbabwe and South Africa and it has worked very well for me. Average download time for a book is about a minute on a wifi connection. For use in Africa I think it is important to invest in a kindle with wifi capability(some are 3G only) because 3G is not as widely available as wifi. There are many wifi hotspots in Harare at restaurants, bars, etc and that is how I usually connect and download my books."

Kindle does ship to most African countries. But if you can't afford a Kindle, note that Kindle books can be downloaded and read (with a free application) on a PC or a Mac. And for those more at the cutting edge of change than I, and with better eyes, there are even Kindle apps for reading books on your Iphone, Blackberry, or other smartphone.

If you want a convenient way to make books available to friends in Africa who don't have access, note that just this month Amazon made it possible for you to give a Kindle book to anyone with an e-mail address and web access. They can read it on a PC or Mac even if they don't have a Kindle.