Google is in the final stages of launching its long-awaited e-book retailing venture, says the Wall Street Journal.
Google’s Google Editions online bookstore appears closer to coming online. It is set to debut in the U.S. by the end of the year and internationally in the first quarter of next year, said Scott Dougall, a Google product management director.
Google Editions is expected to open up a new distribution channel for digital-book publishers and give Amazon’s Kindle and the Apple ibook store a new competitor. A key difference is Google’s “buy anywhere, read anywhere” approach. Customers will purchase titles exclusively through a Web browser, instead of through an online store.
Customers will also be able to use any Internet-connected device–be it a personal computer, smartphone, or tablet computer–to access the books on Google’s servers, says C/Net. The store will feature more than 500,000 titles, and will be device-agnostic.
Publishers are expected to get 63 percent of the revenues from books sold on Google Editions, says Paid Content. Google will keep the other 37 percent. Google has indicated that third-party retailers—including Amazon —would be able to resell access to the books, and in those cases the third-party retailer will get 55 percent of the revenue, while the publisher will get 45 percent. Google will take a small percentage.
Kindle Review compares Google Editions to Amazon’s Kindle store. People will be able to access Google Editions on most devices with a Web browser, including personal computers, smartphones and tablets. With more than 750,000 digital titles available in its Kindle store, Amazon.com claims it controls about 70 to 80 percent of the digital book market.
The way books are created, distributed and read is changing. Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Noble and independent booksellers like Powell’s Books in Portland are heading into unknown territory.
In other news, the official Google Reader app for Android was released today. The app lets you navigate by using your volume keys and share any item via email, Facebook, or other services. It supports unread counts, friends, sharing, liking, and starring.
EPUB eBooks are usable on many different eReaders including the Apple iPad, dedicated gadgets such as the Sony Reader and smart phones like the iPhone and Android. Other eReaders include the ibis Online Reader, and Adobe Digital Editions.
Unfortunately, Amazon’s Kindle lacks EPUB support. Amazon uses their own AZW and DRM for content sold on their store.
The Kindle can only use AZW files for protected content but can read MobiPocket files for unprotected content, with or without the AZW extension. Amazon has developed an .epub to .mobi converter called KindleGen. DRM is independent of eBook formats.
Penguin Books sees ebooks hitting 10 percent of book sales next year (it’s currently four percent in the U.S.). Forester says 14% of Americans — 27 million people – plan on purchasing a tablet device next year. A similar study by the Magazine Publishers of America found that nearly 60 percent of U.S. consumers expect to purchase an e-reader or tablet within the next three years.
According to Forrester’s five-year forecast for eBooks in the U.S., 2010 will end with a total of $966 million in eBook sales. It’s expected to triple, with $3 billion in sales by 2015. At that point the industry will be forever altered, says the study’s author.
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