Amazon Launches Audible With 447% Cheaper Plan; Prime Video With Hindi Interface

Amazon India is all set to enter 2019 with some ambitious, innovative plans and offers for their customers.

Amazon Prime interface will now have Hindi interface, which means Hindi speakers can easily navigate the content. A masterstroke, indeed.

On the other hand, Audible, their audio-books platform have now been launched in India with a 447% cheaper plans compared to US.

Another big move to attract and lure book lovers from India.

Amazon’s Audible Launches With 200,000 Titles

Audible, which was bought by Amazon in 2008 for $300 million was at that time world’s biggest platform for audio-books.

Now, Audible has been launched in India with an attractive plan, and a massive bank of book titles.

Audible can be subscribed for just Rs 199 per month, which is 447% cheaper compared to the same monthly plan in the US, where it is charged Rs 1090.

New users can get 30-days free service, whereas Amazon Prime users can get 90-days free service.

Audible was officially launched during a glittering ceremony at Mumbai’s Royal Opera House, where Bollywood heartthrobs Rajkummar Rao, Radhika Apte and Kalki Koechlin read Mafia Queens of Mumbai, a 2011 crime thriller by Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges.

On Day 1, Audible offers 200,000 audiobooks which can be read, including 400 Audible-exclusive books.

Some of the authors who have penned Audible-exclusive books include Rashmi Bansal, Shashi Tharoor, Ashwin Sanghi, Preeti Shenoy, and Ruskin Bond.

It includes Durjoy Datta’s audio-first title The Last Boy To Fall in Love, and audio performances of Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali and Kabuliwala.

In the US, Audible reports 600 million hours of book-reads, per week, as per Donald Katz, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Audible, Inc.

Hindi Interface For Amazon Prime Video

Meanwhile Amazon India has also launched a Hindi interface for Amazon Prime users.

Users can go to Settings and then choose Hindi as a medium to navigate the content. This update has been extended to both desktop and mobile apps, including Android and iOS.

Regional content in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Bengali etc is already available on Prime Videos.

Amazon India’s focus on regional content is necessary right now, as Hotstar, the biggest on-demand entertainment app in India still holds 69% market share, compared to just 5% of Amazon.

On the other hand, Netflix has announced that cheaper plans can be introduced to India, which means that competition is going to get even tougher in the coming days. Netflix, the world’s largest on-demand entertainment app has a 1.4% share in India right now.

We will keep you updated, as more details come in.