Google takes on Amazon Kindle with rival ebook effort

Google confirmed plans to introduce an online storefront for electronic books, promising that content will be available across any device with a web browser, including mobile phones and netbooks. The web services giant said it will launch Google Editions in the first half of 2010, initially offering about half a million ebooks in partnership with its existing publisher partners--Google will award publishers about 63 percent of revenues, and retain the rest for itself. In addition to the Google Editions web store, consumers will also be able to purchase ebooks from online retailers like Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble--in these cases, publishers will earn about 45 percent of revenues and retailers roughly 55 percent, with Google keeping only a fraction.  

While Google Editions will directly rival Amazon's Kindle ereader device, Google will not market branded hardware: "We're not focused on a dedicated ereader or device of any kind," Tom Turvey, Google's director of strategic partnerships, said Thursday at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Google said it has not yet been determined whether Google Editions titles will be available for viewing over proprietary devices like the Kindle.

For more on Google Editions:
- read this PCWorld article

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