Will The Google Edition E-books Kill The Kindle And IPad?
Will the iPad be killed by Google Editions? Slay the Kindle? Google Editions is a browser based e-book platform that could keep Apple and Amazon looking for some no fax pay day loans. The launch date of late June or July for Google Editions was announced earlier this week. Google Editions, unlike Amazon and Apple, is a digital publishing service offering books that customers can read on any device and buy from whoever wants to sell the books to them. Publishers are probably the most excited about Google Editions e-books. Also, Google Editions, unlike Amazon and Apple business, will let publishers name their own prices.
The Google Editions eBooks
This Google Editions was announced at Random House’s New York offices by Chris Palma who is Google’s strategic partner development manager. The Wall Street Journal suggests that Google Edition users will be able to read the Google Editions e-books they discover through Google’s book-search. Including independent shops, Google Editions will let book retailers sell Google Editions on their sites and let them keep most of the money.
The launch date for Google Editions
Amazon and Apple’s goals of dominating e-publishing is being seriously threatened by the Google Edition launch date. For its Kindle device, Amazon currently has more than 500,000 titles available. For the iPad there are tens of thousands and counting. A much larger selection than Amazon or Apple, Google has already digitalized 12 million books. All consumers are only able to buy Kindle titles at Amazon or iPad titles at Apple. Any device that has a browser can access Google Editions since titles will be available everywhere.
E-pub for Google Editions
The publishing world, including online and in real life, would be turned upside down by Google Editions e-pub in just a few months. In an article published in the New Yorker in April, Dan Clancy of Google Books said that in trying to dominate the market, Amazon and Apple were definitely taking the wrong approach to online business. “It’s much more of an open ecosystem, where you find a way for bricks-and-mortar stores to participate in the future digital world of books,” he said. “We’re quite comfortable having a diverse range of physical retailers, whereas most of the other players would like to have a less competitive space, because they’d like to dominate.”
Amazon reality check
One of the greatest things about the Google Editions is that it lets publishers set the price of their books, and gives local bookstores a chance to compete with behemoths like Amazon, Apple and Barnes and Noble. Amazon’s book pricing policy is causing ill-will in the publishing world. Because Amazon is insisting on selling e-books for a flat $ 9.99, they are actually losing money. The New Yorker reports that with 80-90 percent market share, Amazon thinks it can later bend publishers to its will.
Will the iPad be killed by Google Editions?
Is it possible that Google Editions will be the iPad killer? With the Google Editions launch date approaching, it was reported by the Wall Street Journal that publishers haven’t officially agreed to participate, but most industry insiders think it’s an offer they can’t refuse. More outlets are needed by publishers to sell books. Small bookstores never seen will make money on millions of titles. And you don’t need to buy a Kindle or an iPad to read them. So why would you buy them?
Resources for the article
Wall Street Journal
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703866704575224232417931818.html?mod=WSJ_business_LeadStoryCollection
New Yorker
newyorker.com/reporting/2010/04/26/100426fa_fact_auletta
CNET
news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10444878-93.html?tag=mncol;txt
Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.