Google officially announces electronic bookstore

By on Dec 6, 2010 at 10:25 AM
Breaking December 6, 2010

Today, Google took the wraps off of its highly anticipated eBook store. With over 3 million books in its catalog, the electronic bookstore — simply named Google Books —  is aiming to take a piece of an anticipate $1 billion business in 2011. As the press release reads:

We designed Google eBooks to be open. Many devices are compatible with Google eBooks—everything from laptops to netbooks to tablets to smartphones to e-readers. With the newGoogle eBooks Web Reader, you can buy, store and read Google eBooks in the cloud. That means you can access your ebooks like you would messages in Gmail or photos in Picasa—using a free, password-protected Google account with unlimited ebooks storage.

Hit the read link to check out the official announcement from the Big G.

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14 Comments

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  • Bringit

    Firstoogle.

  • http://twitter.com/apdcgt greentea

    just checked it out, and it looks pretty nice. I like how they give you some books already, and you can save samples of books also. pretty nifty

  • Anonymous

    Watch out Amazon…

  • serpentor

    Wait, I just bought a kindle this weekend. I don’t see it listed :/

    • Anonymous

      I’d be surprised if Google didn’t support the biggest e-reader out there right now.

      • http://twitter.com/captobie Carl Obermeier

        Don’t count on it. Kindle uses a proprietary format. But if Google’s ePub files aren’t DRM protected you can use Calibre to convert them for the Kindle. Or just buy a Nook or Reader.

      • Anonymous

        You were actually right. I checked the full list of supported devices, and the Kindle is explicitly mentioned as not being supported, although Google says they’re open to it.

      • Steel

        Don’t be. Also, the Biggest E-reader Out There doesn’t use the most popular open format out there; e-pub.

        Everyone has a sandbox these days.

  • Anonymous

    Sony, Nook, Web, Android, and iDevices. Nice, now go for competitive pricing!

  • LouisCameron

    If they are using the cloud to store books, won’t this kill your battery (since you would need a constant connection).

  • LouisCameron

    If they are using the cloud to store books, won’t this kill your battery (since you would need a constant connection).

  • Esoth

    Kindle now comes with Kindle for PC, Kindle for Blackberry (or Droid, Iphone, Ipad etc) so Amazon has been doing this “new” thing for awhile now. And I don’t see the big deal about ereader file formats. Most things are available to be read directly on a Kindle or else can easily be converted to a readable format. One of the nice things about Kindle is that you don’t have to stay connected all the time, so you save your battery for days and days, and the syncing is painless between devices. At the end of the day, I have read books in part on my laptop, desktop, and phone, but overwhelmingly read them on the Kindle itself because that dedicated device does that (and admittedly little else) better than all of them. But this Google entry will be a welcome development if it brings more e-readers (and I mean people reading in electronic formatted documents) and possibly lowers prices through competition. Please. Also, create more of an incentive to put more books in e-format more quickly.

  • https://me.yahoo.com/a/J7Mg.aBrt_zUZAONR5KHn_om4dCMew--#37f81 josh

    Someone’s being a Debbie Downer; a Negative Nelly if you will. isn’t that so, Esoth?

    • Esoth

      Josh, you don’t know from negative if you think that’s being a downer. When a ubiquitous entity like Google makes this kind of grand announcement, as if it is bringing e-reading out of the dark ages, it is fair and also accurate to point out that what Google is suggesting is some breakthrough is in contrast and in reality, a long-established basic fact of a competitor’s service. Google is not shy at being self-congratulating; nor is the company without ambition. Google has been inserting itself into copyright and digital rights in this field for some time. I am concerned about what their ultimate agenda may be, based on the way they run their former core business. Let’s just say they haven’t always lived up to their motto. I like reading on my Kindle without the weireless even being switch on. The words that reside there don’t change and don’t need to be updated. I most decidely do not want to spend my virtual life messing about in Google’s clouds, which I worry will be seeded with all sorts of ads and bots.

      One of the interesting things that Amazon did, was despite their commanding headstart in putting ereaders in readers’ hands, they have aggressively courted readers who don’t own Kindles. They sell you a book however or through whatever device you want. They resisted the temptation to try and force their market in selling kindle devices by tying up written work to a kindle-only device. You can read their stuff anywhere, provided you use free Amazon Kindle software. Now if they would only take the next necessary step and unlock that software so readers can cut and paste passages, they would be really doing something in their own profitable interests, and also promoting wider and deeper reading. Amazon has a good record in this arena, not a perfect one. We shall see how Google behaves.

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