The last installment of Harry Potter (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) released on July 21st at midnight. The book was released at midnight (Friday night/Saturday morning) GMT (Greenwhich Mean Time, the time in Britain). This is 4:30am IST (India Standard Time). Because of all the hoopla surrounding the book security to make sure it wasn’t leaked was tight.
Eight hours later, at 12:30pm on Saturday, I was in a car in Mumbai on the way to brunch. While at a traffic light a book hawker approached us offering a hardcover version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for Rs795 (about US$20).
This is pretty amazing. This book was under intense intense security. There was one publicized leak that received a ton of press. So you have one of the most highly anticipated books of the year under a ton of security to organize a global launch, and 8 hours later it’s pirated on the streets of Mumbai?
The world is getting flat… information spreads like crazy!
July 31, 2007 at 6:03 am
This is truly amazing. So by your calculations the book was out in India a pirated copy just about the time a legit copy was available on the West Coast of California.
The pace of travel of information and images around the world is near instantaneous, what with satellite communication and all. Is this the great equalizer?
August 10, 2007 at 11:17 am
At that price and looking by the picture (Its clearly a hardcase version – which is impossible to create in the time mentioned even if everything was ready), it is more likely that it was Indian ingenuity at work and it was an original version of the book selling on the streets along with the stores.