Rockstand, Handygo's ebook and magazine storefront has tied-up with the Ingram Content Group for e-book content. Ingram has a publisher network and claims to provide books, music and media content to over 39,000 retailers, libraries, schools and distribution partners in 220 countries and territories. According to its website, more than 30,000 publishers use Ingram’s fully integrated physical and digital distribution, logistics, and manufacturing solutions to access global consumer demand. Rockstand retails e-books and e-magazines, with billing integration with telecom operators like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea cellular. Last year, it tied up with publishers like VJM Media Group (magazines like Hi! Blitz, OK! India, and Cine Blitz), Network 18 Publications and Kalki Magazine for content. It's not clear as to how exactly this partnership will work, and how many publishers actually come on Rockstand's platform as a result of this partnership: 1. How many publishers? Rockstand clarified to MediaNama that not all publishers will be sharing content with the platform. A Rockstand exec told MediaNama via email that "Exact numbers will be difficult to share but all 30000 publisher do not even go digital." The company declined to share names of publishers whose content could make it to Rockstand. 2. What exactly is this deal about? It wasn't clear whether Rockstand can choose which books to pull in for sale on its platform, or whether publishers will merely have Rockstand as an option for distribution (in which case, it's up to them). The ability for publishers to distribute isn't the same as Rockstand having the…
