2010-05-05 09:41:24
By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley
Google is set to launch its own online e-book store in 2010.
Google Editions books will not be tied to a specific device, unlike rival
e-book company Amazon.
The Amazon Kindle is linked to books from the company's own store and similarly
with Apple's iBookstore.
"It is a different approach to what most readers today have and the vision is
to be able to access books in a device agnostic way," said Google spokesperson
Gabriel Sticker.
To date Google has scanned over 12 million books, both in-print and
out-of-print, giving it a greater selection of material than either Apple or
Amazon.
Analysts at the Yankee Group have predicted that the US ebook reader market is
"about to catch fire sparking from $1.3bn ( 0.86bn) in revenue in 2010 to
$2.5bn ( 1.65bn) by 2013".
Now other industry watchers have said Google Editions will boost those figures
further still.
"Anything that puts more kinds of art in people's hands in a way that fosters
competition, innovation and creativty is good," said Whit Andrews, a senior
vice president of research for Gartner.
Fierce battle
With books accessed through Google Editions readable on any web enabled device
from a mobile phone to a netbook and from a tablet to a desktop, the
implications are clear for e-book stores tied to a single device.
In particular researchers point to trouble ahead for Amazon which, despite not
releasing any specific figures, has been the leader in the market.
Google books Google's plans to digitize millions of books have been
controversial.
Earlier this year the e-tailer said that throughout 2009, the Kindle was the
most popular present in Amazon's history and that it had sold more e-books than
physical books on Christmas day.
Ahead of Apple's iPad coming on the block analysts predicted pain for Amazon.
"Going forward, we can envision a scenario where Apple, Amazon, and Google
eventually split the market," Spencer Wang with Credit Suisse wrote in a report
earlier in the year.
"Therefore, we expect Amazon's share of e-books business to fall from 90%
currently to about 35% over the next five years."
Garnter's Mr Andrews warned that Amazon has a lot to lose in this scenario.
"No company nor industry can see this Google entry as trivial. Anytime Google
goes into business in your balliwick you had better be ready for a fierce
battle," he told BBC News.
He also said that while Amazon faces the biggest challenge a lot of its market
share will be cushioned by the fact more people will be buying ebooks.
Credit Suisse figures estimated that while Amazon might lose its dominant
position, the dollars generated from e-book sales will jump in the next five to
six years to $77m ( 51m) from $248m ( 164m), as the market for e-books goes
mainstream.
Pricing
At this stage Google has not revealed how much it will charge users to access
digital books through Google Editions.
In an interview with the New Yorker magazine, the company revealed the books
will be purchased directly from Google and also from retailers who will keep
the majority of the money earned.
Continue reading the main story
Plans for Google Editions will happen independent of whatever the settlement
agreement is
Gabriel Stricker Google
"It's much more of an open ecosystem, where you find a way for
bricks-and-mortar stores to participate in the future digital world of books,"
said Dan Clancy, Google engineer.
"We're quite comfortable having a diverse range of physical retailers, whereas
most of the other players would like to have a less competitive space, because
they'd like to dominate."
Google confirmed to the BBC that Google Editions will not be affected by the
firm's present legal troubles over trying to digitise millions of out-of-print
books.
"Plans for Google Editions will happen independent of whatever the settlement
agreement is," said Google's Mr Stricker.
The search giant's efforts to create the world's biggest digital library have
been mired in legal action for the last couple of years.
Critics have long claimed Google's deal with US publishers and authors would
give them a monopoly over online book sales.
Google said it would make "millions of books searchable via the web".
A ruling on the issue is due soon.