Amazon and Google Open Digital Bookstores in Brazil

Excited Brazilians cheer the news they will get Kindles.

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc both opened their digital bookstores in Brazil on Thursday, hot on the heels of e-book offerings by local booksellers in a fast-growing online retail market.

The simultaneous introduction of the two services highlighted the wide-open nature of Brazil's $12 billion e-commerce market. Low Internet penetration and a swelling middle class have spurred bets on strong growth for years to come.

Amazon will begin selling its Kindle e-book reader in Brazil in coming weeks for 299 reais ($140), the e-commerce powerhouse said, ending months of speculation that it could arrive by acquiring a major competitor.

Google books could really come in handy at this school in Brazil.

(Register) Amazon has entered the Brazilian market by launching Amazon.com.br - but it will just sell Kindles and ebooks to see if a digital-only operation can sink or swim.

...While Amazon staff working on the project view the event as a rousing success, it hasn't been without its setbacks. The Kindle itself was originally slated to go on sale today, however the units were held up in customs. Amazon Brazil will have to make do with app sales through the holiday season.

The Brazilian operation is a trial run. If successful Amazon will have created a template from which to begin selling in new markets as a digital-only operation, decoupling the launch of Kindle variants and associated ebooks from the business of setting up and running physical warehouses and distribution centres in a country.