Google announces eBookstore for Apple's iOS, alongside Android
Google on Monday announced its entrance into the e-book market -- and competition with Apple's iBooks -- with the search giant's "Google ebookstore," for iOS and Android devices.
Though it is not yet available on the App Store, Google eBooks for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch will allow customers to read and sync more than 3 million e-books on the go. The application will also offer access to the company's Mobile eBookstore.
"We designed Google eBooks to be open," said Abraham Murray, product manager for Google Books. "Many devices are compatible with Google eBooks -- everything from laptops to netbooks to tablets to smartphones to e-readers.
"With the new Google eBooks Web Reader, you can buy, store and read Google eBooks in the cloud. That means you can access your ebooks like you would messages in Gmail or photos in Picasa?using a free, password-protected Google account with unlimited ebooks storage."
Titles can be purchased from the Google eBookstore, or from independent bookseller partners, including Powell's, Alibris, and participating members of the American Booksellers Association. The company has distinguished its e-book service by saying it's "all about choice."
"Launching Google eBooks is an initial step toward giving you greater access to vast variety of information and entertainment found in books," Murray said. "Our journey has just begun."
Google's announcement is not a surprise, as less than a week ago a report from The Wall Street Journal said that the digital bookstore was on track to launch by the end of 2010. The product was previously known as Google Editions.
Like Apple's iBooks and the Amazon Kindle, Google's service allows users to wirelessly sync their titles across a number of devices. Because the service remembers where a reader left off in a book, they can begin reading again from the same spot on a separate device.
Apple's iBooks application, and accompanying iBookstore, debuted with the launch of the iPad in April. In June, it was revealed that Apple had already taken 22 percent of the e-book market.
Last week, a new survey found that the Amazon Kindle was "rapidly" losing e-reader market share to Apple's iPad. The Kindle still has the market share lead, however, with 47 percent of polled consumers owning Amazon's e-ink reader, while 32 percent said they had Apple's multi-touch iPad.
Though it is not yet available on the App Store, Google eBooks for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch will allow customers to read and sync more than 3 million e-books on the go. The application will also offer access to the company's Mobile eBookstore.
"We designed Google eBooks to be open," said Abraham Murray, product manager for Google Books. "Many devices are compatible with Google eBooks -- everything from laptops to netbooks to tablets to smartphones to e-readers.
"With the new Google eBooks Web Reader, you can buy, store and read Google eBooks in the cloud. That means you can access your ebooks like you would messages in Gmail or photos in Picasa?using a free, password-protected Google account with unlimited ebooks storage."
Titles can be purchased from the Google eBookstore, or from independent bookseller partners, including Powell's, Alibris, and participating members of the American Booksellers Association. The company has distinguished its e-book service by saying it's "all about choice."
"Launching Google eBooks is an initial step toward giving you greater access to vast variety of information and entertainment found in books," Murray said. "Our journey has just begun."
Google's announcement is not a surprise, as less than a week ago a report from The Wall Street Journal said that the digital bookstore was on track to launch by the end of 2010. The product was previously known as Google Editions.
Like Apple's iBooks and the Amazon Kindle, Google's service allows users to wirelessly sync their titles across a number of devices. Because the service remembers where a reader left off in a book, they can begin reading again from the same spot on a separate device.
Apple's iBooks application, and accompanying iBookstore, debuted with the launch of the iPad in April. In June, it was revealed that Apple had already taken 22 percent of the e-book market.
Last week, a new survey found that the Amazon Kindle was "rapidly" losing e-reader market share to Apple's iPad. The Kindle still has the market share lead, however, with 47 percent of polled consumers owning Amazon's e-ink reader, while 32 percent said they had Apple's multi-touch iPad.
Comments
Or do these companies think they need to compete, just to compete.
Was there something missing, that the world needed another e-book store?
Or do these companies think they need to compete, just to compete.
Yeah I agree, the world is being saturated with e-book stores. Personally if I get a book i would much rather just get a hard copy right now, would be nice if you could put in the ISBN or some code that also gives you a digital copy.
Google on Monday announced its entrance into the e-book market -- and competition with Apple's iBooks -- with the search giant's "Google ebookstore," for iOS and Android devices.
Wow. Apple never went into the search market, but now Google is entering the iBook market.
I guess that this means war?
Yeah I agree, the world is being saturated with e-book stores. Personally if I get a book i would much rather just get a hard copy right now, would be nice if you could put in the ISBN or some code that also gives you a digital copy.
As Google would like to remind you, It's all about choice. You may like to read hard copies. I may like to read on Kindle/iPad. They are targeting me while at the same time trying to lure you.
3 millions? Too bad nowadays I want less of Google rather than more. This will be a big hit though.
a hit? and a big one? Because they said it's open? Care to explain?
Wow. Apple never went into the search market, but now Google is entering the iBook market.
I guess that this means war?
The war's began when Google entered phone(mobile OS) business.
Read a lot of websites and magazines though but just can't get into this ebook thing. Does anybody here use the iBook app that much
I also wonder what the latest numbers are for iBook downloads. There seems to be a lot of duplication in the app store now with the likes of Kindle and now Google. Maybe it's just another Apple hobby
This may be a little off topic but I just downloaded the kindle app for Mac and bought a textbook for college and it has no page numbers. It makes it very difficult to find what I need when I have to flip around, cant search page numbers either. I hope Google was smart enough to have this in their app.
Problem with page numbers in ebooks is that there are no pages. If your book has 300 pages and you change the font size you'll suddenly have a 400 page book. Or if you continue to read on your iphone its now a 1000 page book.
Problem with page numbers in ebooks is that there are no pages. If your book has 300 pages and you change the font size you'll suddenly have a 400 page book. Or if you continue to read on your iphone its now a 1000 page book.
Good point, guess I never thought about that aspect.
a hit? and a big one? Because they said it's open? Care to explain?
Largest library. Compatible with most platforms.
So does this mean that this is HTML ebooks or do they use ePub? Also does the whole cloud thing mean that I can't read offline and have to use data just to keep reading? Also will apple even approve such an app from google?
Google said you can download most of the library in ePub or PDF for offline reading. I think Apple will approve the app. It's no different than Kindle app, isn't it?
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/googl...400989007?mt=8
Google seems more and more like Microsoft ? they need to have a finger in every market orifice.
Yep, and like Microsoft they are going to discover the hard way many years down the line that the best way to go about it is not to brainlessly ape the innovation of others (Java, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, FaceBook and Mozilla to name a few) and add a few modifications to claim originality, but to strike out in their own unique direction with their own ideas.
Embrace and extend has had its day, and is a spent force in the techno-sphere...
this is pathetic!
I'll admit i'm not the words most enthusiastic reader of books and since the iBooks app launch i've downloaded one and never bothered reading it.
Read a lot of websites and magazines though but just can't get into this ebook thing. Does anybody here use the iBook app that much
I also wonder what the latest numbers are for iBook downloads. There seems to be a lot of duplication in the app store now with the likes of Kindle and now Google. Maybe it's just another Apple hobby
As we all know, Apple wants to sell the hardware, and the software is just a way of getting people to have another reason to do so. I am a big reader, I've bought over 60 books so far from Amazon, Apple and B&N. It's likely I'll also buy from Google, and I've got a lot of the books they've scanned.
The only real problem I see so far is one mentioned in a Macworld article, which I also have. That is, having all your books in separate stores. That's a pain. If that gets solved, it will make buying from different stores easier.
Was there something missing, that the world needed another e-book store?
Or do these companies think they need to compete, just to compete.
That doesn't sound much different from "does the world need another hardware store?" or "does the world need another clothes store?". Essentially there may not be a need, but if someone wants to come up with an alternative bookstore, then they should not be prevented from doing so. In my view, I should be able to buy my e-books from whoever I want, for whatever reason.
Whatever the reason for a business to exist, as long its legal and legit then it should be allowed to do so.