E-Book Battle Looms as Google Prepares Book-Store Launch

The search giant will enter the competitive e-book market

Shaking up the online publishing world, Google reps introduced the company's new e-book store called Google Editions. Expected to launch in June or July, the digital book store offers features its e-book competitors (Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple) don't have. The digital book store will be browser-based so users can access e-books on a range of devices--including laptops, iPads and smartphones. Here's what tech writers are saying about the new development:

• Puts Downward Pressure on Prices, writes Chad Catacchio at The Next Web: "All of this is one big combined strategy to control content, one that, if nothing else, could possibly lower the prices of ebooks across the board."

• 63% Cut for Publishers  Jared Newman at PC World writes: "Publishers will get 63 percent of the revenue from book sales and Google takes the rest. Other online retailers, such as independent bookstores, can also open their own satellite versions of Google Editions, giving a small fee to Google and 45 percent of revenue to publishers, and taking the rest."

• Google Might Have One Big Advantage, explains Kelly Hodgkins at BGR: "Depending on the outcome of its settlement with book publishers and authors over the publication rights to out of print books, Google may be able to distinguish themselves from the competition by offering millions of out-of-print books that the search giant has been indexing and compiling for the last several years."

• Is There Any Difference Between Apple and Google Anymore?  wonders Peter Kafka at All Things Digital: "Google sells digital movies, is about to sell digital books and would like to sell digital TV shows. It is also trying, for now, to sell Google-branded phones directly to consumers. The one thing it’s not selling that Apple does is music, though there are persistent rumblings that the Googleplex is interested in playing there, too. Apple, meanwhile, is adding advertising (along with movies and books and phones, etc.) to its offerings. Next up perhaps: Search... Make no mistake: These two companies are going to be competing directly for a long time to come. And no matter how many al fresco coffees their CEOs enjoy together, it’s going to be a fierce battle."

• A Huge Battle With No Clear Leader  Kwame Opam at Geekosystem writes: "It’ll be interesting to see how these companies will go head to head, and it’s anybody’s guess whose model will win. Google is hoping to offer a new experience that will surely benefit from the growing popularity of the Android platform. However, with the Kindle as an industry stalwart and the iPad having already sold over a million units, the battle over how you read Moby Dick will be a huge one."