(Credit: Google Inc.)
It’s not a secret that Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos wants to be the unchallenged Mogul of the electronic book business, as well as the biggest book vendor under the sun. Kindle, the popular e-book reader, has made things easier.
Now Google wants a piece of the pie—Google is hitting the online bookstore business. The search giant announced yesterday at the Frankfurt Book Fair, that in the first half of next year, it will launch Google Editions, a new service that will deliver e-books to anyone with a Web browser.
Partnering with publishers which whom it already has digital rights deals, Google plans to initially offer about a half-million books through the service. Readers will be able to purchase books directly from Google or from online bookstores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
The Mountain View giant said that consumers would be able to read the books on any connected device, including PCs, Netbooks, and smartphones. Apple iPhone users could access the e-books through their Gmail accounts.
Google said it doesn’t plan to offer a dedicated e-book reader to accompany the new service, according to the press reports.
“We’re not focused on a dedicated e-reader or device of any kind,” Tom Turvey, Google’s director of strategic partnerships, told journalists at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
When Google said they wanted to organize all the information in the planet; they weren’t kidding. I’ll be watching this project closely and see how Jeff Bezos reacts to this new challenge. In the world of technology, there’s never a dull moment. Good Day.
