According to
this article from the New York Times, one of the biggest events at the recent BookExpo was the announcement that Google intends to implement a system to enable publishers to sell digital versions of their newest books direct to consumers through Google.
Quote:
Google appears to be throwing down the gauntlet in the e-book market.
In discussions with publishers at the annual BookExpo convention in New York over the weekend, Google signaled its intent to introduce a program by that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their newest books direct to consumers through Google. The move would pit Google against Amazon.com, which is seeking to control the e-book market with the versions it sells for its Kindle reading device.
Google’s move is likely to be welcomed by publishers who have expressed concerns about Amazon’s aggressive pricing strategy for e-books. Amazon offers Kindle editions of most new best sellers for $9.99, far less than the typical $26 at which publishers sell new hardcovers. In early discussions, Google has said it will allow publishers to set consumer prices.
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We've got plenty of questions about this new development, like whether there will be regional restrictions on sales, whether the books will be locked into a drm-scheme (and if yes, which one?), which formats will be available, and whether the books will be necessarily tied to a browser or whether standard formats like ePUB will also be available which can be read on a dedicated device:
Quote:
Mr. Turvey said that with books, Google planned to sell readers online access to digital versions of various titles. When offline, Mr. Turvey said, readers would still be able to access their electronic books in cached versions on their browsers.
(...)
Mr. Turvey said Google’s program would allow consumers to read books on any device with Internet access, including mobile phones, rather than being limited to dedicated reading devices like the Amazon Kindle. “We don’t believe that having a silo or a proprietary system is the way that e-books will go,” he said.
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Since Google has
already adopted the ePUB format for its partnership with Sony, we're hoping they'll follow through in this program as well.
It will also be interesting to see the prices proposed. Google intends to allow publishers to set their own prices; but "Mr. Turvey said that Google would probably allow publishers to charge consumers the same price for digital editions as they do for new hardcover versions.
He said Google would reserve the right to adjust prices that it deemed “exorbitant.”" If Google really is hoping to take on Amazon with this move, as seems plausible, publishers will have to make some big adjustments in their pricing policies. It will be very interesting to see what Google considers "exorbitant" prices, and how they will adjust them.
Given that one of the biggest hurdles facing widespread adoption of e-books is still the overall dearth of content (although Amazon has been making progress in that area), this could be the best news of the year, if it's implemented wisely.
And making content available and easy to find should also help to limit illicit file-sharing of books, which would conveniently knock out another argument against going digital often presented by publishers and authors alike.
We'll be keeping a close eye on this, and if all goes as planned, we should know more soon: Google plans to go live with this project by the end of 2009.
UPDATE : in a related article on
Computerworld:
Quote:
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In a move that seems to target Amazon.com's Kindle business, Google said in a statement that it wants to build and support a "digital book ecosystem" to allow its partner publishers to make their books available for purchase from any web-enabled device, whether it is a PC, a smart phone, a netbook or a dedicated reading device, the company said.
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That sounds very promising.
Thanks to eagle-eyed MR member
anurag for spotting the news.
Related : Sony Partners With Google To Bring More Than 500,000 Books To The Reader
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