The company, which already has a strong retail presence in Japan, is in the final stages of talks with major Japanese publishers, the Nikkei said.

Amazon is also considering a launch of its Kindle reader for Japanese customers, the Nikkei said.

The company was hoping to start the business in time for the Christmas sales season, Jiji said.

Amazon's Japanese representatives declined to comment on the report.

Japanese publishers have been reluctant to provide content to Amazon over concerns that the retailer will sell ebooks at bargain prices, the Nikkei said.

The US firm however appears to be making headway in negotiations by proposing a framework in which the timing and scope of price cuts would be discussed with publishers in advance, the business daily said.

Despite the buzz about ebooks in the rest of the world, Japan has failed to develop the sector so far, offering only a limited number of book titles with several competing technological standards.

The Japanese ebook market was estimated at 65 billion yen ($846 million) in the year to March 2011, compared with roughly two trillion yen for printed books and magazines, according to the Nikkei.

Windows Phone division chief Andy Lees said the Nokia devices were a huge development for Microsoft as it struggles to capture a piece of the market for mobile operating systems already dominated by Apple, Google and BlackBerry.

"We are very excited about them (Nokia) being in the market," he told the All Things Digital AsiaD technology conference in Hong Kong.

"They have a lot of resources throughout the world and they will be a major accelerant to us."

Lees said the Finland-based maker of mobile phones saw Microsoft's "road map" for its new operating system and "decided to bet their whole company on Windows Phone based on that".

He said Google, maker of the popular Android operating system for mobile phones, was "very nervous" at Microsoft's entry into the market, even though Windows Phone has a long way to go before it rivals more established products.

"Weve been working hard on building an architecture that allows us to leapfrog our competitors by using the best components available," Lees said in reference to its hardware partners such as Nokia and Samsung.

Microsoft and Samsung last month announced they would cooperate in the development and marketing of Windows Phone.