Google launches eBooks, cross-platform e-bookstore and reader

Google launches eBooks, cross-platform e-bookstore and reader

On Monday morning, Google officially announces its entry into the super competitve ebook market with an e-reader app called Google eBooks and a store called the Google eBookstore. This products are existed, but are rather a consolidation of many of Google's digital book efforts.

Like Amazon has done with its own Kindle platform, Google eBooks now is a cross-platform solution for reading digital books across multiple devices. At present, users can read Google eBooks in JavaScript-enabled browsers, in iOS and Android-powered devices, and on any e-reader supporting Adobe's eBook platform (which includes Barnes and Noble's Nook, Sony's Reader, and at least one of Borders' many e-readers.) There is not yet support for the Amazon Kindle, Kobo, BlackBerry, or Windows Mobile 7.

Users browse and download ebook in the Google eBookstore, which is currently 100% web-based. If you're using Google Books for Android, for example, hitting the "Get eBooks" button at the top of the screen launches the bookstore in a browser.

To shop for Google eBooks, the user needs a Google Checkout account. However, Google's catalog of ebooks is also available through a number of partner resellers who accept other forms of payment. Alibris and Powell's Books, for example, accept PayPal and standard credit cards, so a Google Checkout account is not mandatory.

Google eBooks and the eBookstore were anything but surprise appearances on Monday. As far back as four years ago, Google's intention of selling e-books online was well-known, and it was originally going to be an extension of the Book Search project, which was itself an extension of the Google Print project.

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