Google Digital Books get Summer Release

5 May 2010 by Graham Lyons - News Amazon, apple, google, google editions 1 Comment »

You might get a faint hint of déjà vu about this article but that’s because it’s no first edition. Google’s online library has been in the works for some time and in that time has hit a number of stumbling blocks. Authors weren’t happy with the arrangement, then came the turn of the photographers. It’s been a bit of a legal merry-go-round but Google have finally cemented the first release of Google Editions for this summer.

Although there’s no exact date set in stone as of yet Google seem pretty confident that they will be allowing customers to buy entire digital copies of books to read via their web browsers this year. The vital note on this release is that the service is to be made available on an expansive range of devices so as not to limit its value to potential customers. What this seems to suggest is that it will be available to you whether you are using your windows laptop, mobile device or crucially an iPad. All you’ll need is a Google account.

Of course this will be putting them directly alongside Amazon’s Kindle Store and Apple’s iBook setup. With these two being already well established this could be a difficult area for the thus far bumbling Google setup to get a foot in. However, when it finally gets up and running Google will no doubt benefit from a couple of features their service will surely offer.

Chris Palma, Google’s manager for strategic partner development has already stated that the service will be plied heavily through partner sites allowing them to take most of the revenue from the sales. This will certainly give Google Editions a wider audience.

An important second point is that they are in fact Google. On many occasions (social media, mobile phones) they come late in the game but the potential to provide a more expansive range than most competitors means that this service will most likely have some success. Also, Google have the capabilities and general tenacity to back their ventures in the long run. This means you will probably be hearing a lot more from Google Editions in the near future.