Welcome to the Jungle, Junglee!

So while the Indian newsmedia is in a huff over the Supreme Court decision to cancel all 122 telecom licenses granted by erstwhile telecom minister A.Raja, their Twitter and blogger counterparts are getting all worked up because Amazon has dusted up a service they bought 14 years ago and launched it in India - Junglee.com.

Originally launched as a price comparison engine by a bunch of sharp Indian engineers - Venky Harinarayan, Rakesh Mathur, Anand Rajaram, and Ashish Gupta - Amazon bought out the company in 1998 for nearly $200 million.

While the core technology got assimilated into Amazon's own services, the brand was forgotten about and duly consigned to the footnotes of Internet history. Till today that is.

Junglee.com has been launched by Amazon specifically to target the Indian market. Minus all the hype around the announcement, it is just a cleanly designed product comparison service. You can browse or search various products like books, mobiles, toys, baby stuff and computers. Junglee will show you which retailers - online or offline - offer the product, at what prices and on what shipping terms.

That's it.

It's up to consumers to then complete the purchase either by visiting the third party websites like indiaplaza.com or firstcry.com; or through physical retailers like Bata or Fabindia.

There are already a plethora of such services in India, notable amongst which are naaptol.com, tolmol.com and compareindia.in.com(disclosure: a Network 18 company, the same company that runs Forbes India).

Worse, the best known ecommerce sites in India like Flipkart.com, Myntra.com, Infibeam.com and Letsbuy.com are, not surprisingly, absent from Junglee.

Of course it's easy to figure out why that is so. All these sites have spent precious money and effort over the years to become well known brands and build their own loyal customer base. Why would they want to become just a "supplier" on an Amazon site, competing against any number of random competitors on (usually) just price?

Conversely, why would Amazon genuinely want to funnel more sales to brands that it will inevitably have to compete with in India?

Mind you - India is absolutely critical for Amazon as I had argued in an earlier story in Forbes India.

Much Ado About Nothing

While I haven't got any insights from Amazon on their Junglee launch (the company is notoriously guarded about revealing its plans, like Apple. It hasn't acknowledged multiple requests I've sent in the past for comments on stories), I don't think it is that significant a step for Indian consumers.

That's because the things Amazon is well known for - world-class service, an infinite range of products, super fast shipping or fantastic product reviews - will not be available through the Junglee service.

Worse, those customers who end up using this service to find and order products will in many cases end up with sub-optimal service and shipping delays because the sellers aren't exactly best-of-breed.

I'll even submit that there might be a negative rub-off on Amazon when customers end up having bad experiences after having found and purchased products through Junglee. Granted Amazon can always say, "Look, we are only pointing out stores to you. After that you're on your own!" but the human mind isn't always rational. Consumers will expect some ownership from Amazon for this service.

When that happens, what do you think they will do?

They will realize that shopping through a marketplace doesn't always guarantee the same service levels or experience as doing so from respected brand. The same reason why most of us prefer to shop from Amazon instead of Ebay.

So why is Amazon doing this?

Junglee Trojan?

The FAQs for Junglee mention that in addition to Indian retailers, the service will also ship from Amazon.com.

Check out the seller results for the Nikon Coolpix L120 digital camera.

8 Indian sellers offering the camera for between Rs.12,438 and Rs.13.530 and delivery ranging from 1-3 days and 4-7 days.

And Amazon.com offering the same for Rs.9,836 in 3-5 days, albeit exclusive of shipping and custom fees. Inclusive of those the price ranges from Rs.13,676 to Rs.15,294, depending on the shipping times chosen.

Those prices can come down significantly once Amazon decides to charge less for shipping, as it is a past master of lean and fast logistics.

But guess who was selling the camera to me?

You'd think it was another third party seller, via Amazon's well established Global Program, right?

The seller is "Amazon Export Sales, Inc."

For the slightly well-heeled, ordering from Amazon.com and shipping to India was always an option.

Now through Junglee, Amazon will be able to push those to a wider audience, using Rupee prices. With volumes it will bring down shipping prices too such that the differential between ordering from an Indian retailer and from Amazon will become minimal.

Of course this isn't Amazon's endgame. Shipping products internationally still takes more time and more money (thanks to custom duties). But its a good way to progressively ramp up in India.

The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.