Incoming

Google to Enter E-Book Game

New digital bookseller to launch by 2011.

Get ready for Google’s next game-changer! The search giant will launch their e-book venture, Google Editions, by the end of the year, in a move the company hopes will change the entire e-book market. Google Editions will offer a “read anywhere” model that allows users to buy books directly from Google or from multiple online retailers and add them to an online library tied to a Google account, which they can access on most devices with a Web browser. The e-books can also be bought from independent bookstores, many of which began receiving contracts from Google in recent weeks. The strategy is different from Amazon, which controls an estimated 65 percent of the digital book market but only allows users to purchase books for Kindles from their own store. Google has signed deals with major book publishers and is expected to offer hundreds of titles, some for purchase and some for free.