Legal publishing major Manupatra has launched digital versions of its publications on Amazon's Kindle. Manupatra is targeting their product at tech-savvy lawyers who prefer to carry about 300 grams of Amazon's Original Wireless Reading Device, Kindle.

Priyanka, the Chief Operations Officer of Manupatra, told Bar & Bench, "Kindle is not very big in India today. But, it is soon gaining tremendous market share. With Google coming with its reading gadgets and several others in line, the reading experience in the next few years will change. Currently, all major publications are released both in hard copy as well as the digital medium."

It is confirmed that the e-books on Kindle are priced lower than the hard-bound books. On an average, a lawyer or a law firm dedicates about 20 to 30 percent of the available office space for a library. 'e-paper' gadgets and devices like Kindle, Sony Reader, iRex iLiad, will come as a space saving measure.

"Apart from being a green initiative, the digital books have several other features and will still try and give the book experience to our readers," says Priyanka. Manupatra is also ready with applications for Blackberries and iPhones for the readers. It has deliberately resisted the launch of these applications as the market for these products has not matured to the statistics depicted in the western countries. "The day we feel that there is a market for these applications, we will launch the product in less than 24 hours," she adds.

With lawyers acquainting themselves with online research and case downloads, we might soon see reader devicees being used extensively even in courts for references instead large hard bound books. With Delhi High Court leading the way by going digital, it is only a matter of time before other Courts follow suit.