As if the presence of Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble in the ebook industry weren’t enough to overwhelm consumers, online giant Google Inc. is also throwing its hat into the fray by coming out with its own Google ebook store – Google Editions.
The massive ebook store which will initially have about 400,000 to 600,000 titles available has been in the offing since last year but because of some delays, reportedly among them the failure of Google to offer an acceptable deal to publishers, the launch date had to be pushed back to summer of this year, possibly in late June or July.
Google manager for strategic development Chris Palma revealed that ebook reading enthusiasts will be able to purchase any title they find from Google’s own Book Search function. Book retailers on the other hand, will also have the chance to sell the ebooks through their respective websites, in turn, making Google books more accessible to users.
While Google is new to the distribution business, it hopes to get a share of the market by emphasizing the fact that books at Google Editions can be read from just about any device – from the Kindle to the iPad, Nook, or any other ebook reader or web browser for that matter.
Although the company is still mum on the pricing structure of the digital books available on Google Editions, its very entry into the market should make things interesting as far as ebook prices are concerned. Amazon had earlier been bent on sticking to a $9.99 pricetag on its books for the Kindle, but was forced to raise prices on some titles when a number of publishing companies drew up their own pricing scheme for their ebooks.
Will Google Editions be able to get a crack at this industry currently dominated by Amazon and Apple and their respective devices Kindle and iPad? One thing’s for sure, if ebooks will be made available to consumers at lower prices, then definitely the Google ebook store is a welcome addition to the ebook market.