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Originally Posted by Sonist
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 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.”"
Hm, I may take back my "competition is good" comment. This seems more like a Trojan Horse, than competition.
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Nah, more as though they're going to do html versions (the thought alone is making me cringe). Or alternatively it could just be that Mr. Turvey or the reporter don't know what they're talking about or writing..
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Do I read the first paragraph above correctly, to mean that the user is basically "renting" the file, with the ability to read it off-line in a cache (presumably DRM-ed)? In a BROWSER?!!
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I'd say there's too little meat to the story to go on.
Anyway, if the product doesn't compete on features, it will likely bomb; and if there's one thing that's true about Google it's that Google isn't stupid about new tech. As such, I doubt they will be doing this as stated here.
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And for this, they expect "the same price for digital editions as they do for new hardcover versions..." ???!!!!
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I suggest you read "reasonable" as a fairly stringent requirement. Why would Google create a product that doesn't create revenues? The whole point of Google is free services with ads. I doubt they are going to switch to an "idiotic pricing schemes with total control out of their hands".
I would rather suggest they're trying not to scare away the publishers from the get-go.
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Google's approach of supporting any device for accessing e-books will ultimately prevail. Enderle said. "People want to buy something and read it on anything they have," he added. "Google seems to be less concerned with keeping publishers happy and moving to the end game of giving the consumers the ability to buy what they want more freely."
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