Google Eyes Amazon, Prepares To Sell E-Book Access
02 Juin 2009 - 2:37AM
Dow Jones News
Google Inc. (GOOG) on Monday confirmed that it plans to launch a
program that will let publishers sell digital versions of their
books directly to consumers, a step that would thrust the Internet
search giant into competition with e-commerce leader Amazon.com
Inc. (AMZN).
Google, Mountain View, Calif., said it aims to build a "digital
book ecosystem" to allow partner publishers to sell access to their
titles, even if buyers don't have dedicated book readers such as
Amazon's Kindle or Sony Corp.'s (SNE) Reader. The service was
expected to launch by the end of this year.
News of Google's plans was first reported by the New York Times
and later confirmed by the company.
Google could prove to be a significant challenger for Amazon,
which sells e-books specifically formatted to work with its
proprietary Kindle. A key difference would be that the search giant
aims to let Google Book Search users "buy access" to copyrighted
books with any Web-enabled computer, e-reader or mobile phone.
Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker said consumers would not be
able to download books in the same way Amazon's customers can buy
copies of specific titles and store them on their Kindle. Instead,
people who access books through Google would be able to read titles
online and temporarily cache them in their Internet browsers so
they could also read them offline.
A consumer buying access to a book through Google Book Search
would have the right to view the title in perpetuity, a source
familiar with the matter said. It was not immediately clear whether
consumers would be willing to pay for a book they could not
download and store on their computer, phone or e-reader.
But a key advantage for Google is vast reach on the Internet.
That's because the world's dominant search company could in theory
highlight relevant books for sale every time a consumer punches in
a search query.
Google said it would allow publishers to set their own prices,
although the company reserved the right to discount titles at its
own expense. Amazon typically charges consumers $9.99 per e-book,
far below hardcover prices reaching about $26.
Google said it was still in talks with publishers and specific
details of is project remain to be determined.
Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Marianne Wolk said Google
could emerge as the world's largest e-book distributor, but its
size and reach by no means guarantees the company will successfully
challenge Amazon.
She said a key issue will be whether the e-book market evolves
like the digital music market, in which Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPod
was designed to play music available through its iTunes online
store, or the PC market, in which multiple devices competed using
the same open formats.
Google's push into book retailing should also help improve
relations with publishers and authors, some of whom argued that the
company's Book Search project to digitize more than 7 million books
violated copyrights.
The company last year reached a legal settlement with authors
and publishers, an agreement currently under antitrust review by
the U.S. Department of Justice.
Separately, Amazon said Monday that it will launch its
large-screen Kindle DX reader on June 10, earlier than initially
expected.
-By Scott Morrison, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-6118;
scott.morrison@dowjones.com