What Google is trying to do is not appeal to us, but to the publishers. “Charging more” is never for the consumer.

“Ebooks sold via Google will not restrict a buyer from reading the ebook in one proprietary format, or on one dedicated ebook reading device.”

The same can also be said of DRM free ePub books, and they don’t require a browser, and can be read on eReaders as well as computers (with software installed).

“The entry of Google into the playing field will bring down ebook prices and encourage the widespread use of open formats. ”

Not a chance. Have you tried Google’s current eBook interface? You can’t even select and copy a subsection, in order to quote from the book.

Will this impact on Amazon? About as much as Google Video impacted on iTunes, Netflix Watch Now, and even Amazon Unbox/VOD.

I read this story (by Mokoto Rich in the NY Times) and saw the glass as half full, not half empty.

Publishers can set any price they want to set: a high price or a low price.

It’s clear to me that publishers who choose to price their ebooks high — or the same price as the paper books — will quickly learn that buyers won’t buy.

Ebooks sold via Google will not restrict a buyer from reading the ebook in one proprietary format, or on one dedicated ebook reading device.

The entry of Google into the playing field will bring down ebook prices and encourage the widespread use of open formats.

Amazon will need to respond to this transformation: and this response will make Amazon a better company.

Everybody wins.

Michael Pastore
50 Benefits of Ebooks

I reckon this is the one to turn into the ‘lending library in the sky’ model, with maybe subscriptions forthcoming.

It does seem rushed and half-baked as far as announcements go, doesn’t it. Even (especially!) the ‘this time we mean it’ line is telling. Just as whenever somebody says, ‘You can trust me,’ it means you can’t, when a company says, ‘Now this time we mean it,’ it means they don’t. Not all the way.

Google is pushing HTML5. They want Android to succeed in mobile. They see opportunities in the mobile space, if only they can get around the telco monopolies worldwide; they fear that the telcos might strike their own deals with MSFT, Apple or others, — or the publishers/content monopolists directly — and cut Google out of the picture entirely.

Eventually Google will have to merge the out of print books with the new books. Of course every piece of webapp Google introduces as ‘Beta,’ but this is not a good strategy to be telling publishers the same thing!

Good to have a big company giving Amazon some competition. Google just has to come up with something better than this. I expect they will in time, unless they just chuck the whole thing in a couple years, like google video.

Gaic

People can already sell books from multiple sources, using multiple formats, and different prices.

That Google thinks people are stupid enough to pay the same for an electronic copy that they pay for a hardcover is about the only breaking news–because it just demonstrates that Google is completely out of touch when it comes to eBooks.

Oh, wait: it will use HTML5. That will make _all_ the difference.

By the end of 2009, here’s how publishers and authors will be able to sell their digital content:

1. Directly, from their own websites.
2. Ecommerce sites, that automate the downloads and process payments, such as E-junkie.
3. P.O.D. sites, like Lulu.
4. “Free content” sites, such as Scribd.
5. Proprietary sites, ala Amazon.
6. Sites that take an “open” approach to ebooks, let the publisher/author set the final selling price, and do not manipulate the search results: Google.

And for those of us who can’t decide which way the future is speeding, there is one more option:

7. All of the above.

Michael Pastore
50 Benefits of Ebooks