The recent launch of Google eBookstore by Internet search services firm Google, Inc., US, represents an important milestone in the e-books industry, media reports have pointed out. Through this venture, Google seeks to compete for a share of the digital books business, valued at about $1 billion and expected to grow in the coming years. The eBookstore concept, claimed to be much more than just another option for acquiring books, is seen to take e-books to the next level. It now incorporates key design innovations in user options and operation and also involves brick-and-mortar bookstores as partners in the enterprise. It is expected that Google will expand the service to European markets by March 2011 and to Japan later next year.
According to Forrester Research's James McQuivey, Google's entry into the market is significant as it will be reaching potential customers at a unique point in their book-buying journey. The combination of ads with the browsing of e-books is another plus point for Google, he says. Since Google plans to provide its books from the cloud, it will be able to deliver timely and targeted ads, it is expected. The buyer of a book will thereby no longer need to bear the entire cost of a book. The more pages they read (the more value they get), the more ads they get to see. This in turn will help publishers and authors to receive more value. Also, instead of relying on libraries as a method of accessing information or book, users can now search, preview, or read books (or portions of them) online anytime, anywhere.
Many devices are compatible with Google e-books - everything from laptops to netbooks to tablets to smartphones to e-readers. The new Google eBooks Web Reader allows readers to buy, store and read Google e-books in the cloud. In addition to a full-featured web reader, free apps for Android and Apple devices will make it possible to shop and read on the go.
Users can connect to their collections of books anytime, anywhere using any Adobe e-book DRM-compliant device with a web browser that includes the Android, iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, Nook, or Sony. Users of these systems can easily download free applications tailored for eBookstore users from the homepage. They have the option to view the scanned-in pages of a book instead of the default flowing text as a result of the digitising work of Google Books. According to Google spokeswoman Jeannie Hornung, the service is not accessible on Amazon's Kindle, though it may offer support in the future.
NFAIS Director of Planning & Communication, Jill O'Neill, notes that Google Books meets the same set of benchmarks for acquiring and reading ebooks as established by Amazon's Kindle.
Google eBooks currently allows users to browse and search through the one of the largest ebooks collections in the world with more than three million titles including hundreds of thousands for sale. While Amazon claims to offer 750,000 books for sale in addition to a stable of 1.8 million free books, Apple has a more limited catalogue.
According to an Information Today report, many publishers and bookstores see Google's model as a positive step in the right direction. In the long run, notes McQuivey, Google eBooks may just convert more people to e-reading. American Booksellers Association COO Len Vlahos notes that Google is acting as an aggregator or wholesaler. Google eBooks users can either purchase a title directly from the Google site or choose to purchase through an independent bookseller. Brian Elliott, CEO of Monsoon Commerce Solutions, parent company of Alibris, sees Google eBooks as providing a new way for independent booksellers to provide their local customers access to eBooks through a familiar channel.
Just two days after Google released the eBookstore, STM publisher Elsevier announced that it would be selling a substantial part of its science and technology e-books through Google eBooks.
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