Books from Google eBooks will be readable on most devices, including smart phones, the search giant says. More than 3 million volumes will be available for access and download, it says.
Google has opened its own digital bookstore, pitting itself squarely against Amazon.com and Apple in the fast-growing market for electronic books.In creating one of the largest online catalogs, the Internet search giant said Google eBooks would have more than 3 million volumes available for access and download.
Most of those titles are free, public-domain works, such as "Alice in Wonderland" and "Moby-Dick," but the store will also feature hundreds of thousands of titles for sale from major and minor publishers, including Random House Inc. and Hachette Book Group.
Google is entering a market that has more than tripled in 2010 and is expected to grow by nearly 40% next year, to $1.35 billion, according to Forrester. By the end of 2011, more than 25 million U.S. adults will be regular e-book readers.
Google also has a big ace up its sleeve: The company has been scanning library books since 2004 and says it has digitized about 15 million books — close to 12% of the world's estimated 129 million books.
That effort has been ensnared in a protracted lawsuit with authors and publishers, who in 2005 sued Google to stop it from publishing copyrighted books. The two sides have since created a settlement that would allow Google to share the books while paying rights owners, but the pact is awaiting approval in federal court.
If that happens, Google's digital bookstore could become by far the largest anywhere.
Unlike digital bookstores run by Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Barnes and Noble Inc., Google's venture, unveiled Monday, is not tied to a particular reading device, Google said. Instead, its electronic books can be read on most devices and not just on those that the seller manufactures. An e-book bought from Apple, for instance, can be read only on an Apple device.
"Google is essentially going to try to break that model open" by allowing users to purchase books online and read them on as many devices as possible, said James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc.
Source: LA times
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