Google Editions ebooks store set to go live

Google Editions, the search giant's much-anticipated foray into the ebook market, is expected to be up and running in the US by the end of the year and will be rolled out globally in early 2011.

The online store was originally due to go live in the summer, but according to the Wall Street Journal, it ran into several technical and legal hurdles. These have now been overcome and the venture is almost ready to go.

"Because of the complexity of this project, we didn't want to come out with something that wasn't thorough," said Google product management director Scott Dougall.

The WSJ reports that independent booksellers have agreed contracts with Google and that publishers have been exchanging files with the company. But it is not yet known what sort of a cut independent merchants will get.

The launch of Google Editions is being tipped to turn the current ebook market on its head as the company has adopted a more open approach to the concept than rivals like Amazon. Users will be able to buy books directly from Google, or from other online retailers, and store them in an online library connected to a Google account.

The e-editions of the books will be readable on any device with a web browser, including smartphones and tablet computers as well as personal computers. Users will not need to download special apps to read their purchases.

By not relying on its own operating system, Android, Google hopes that ebooks purchased via Google Editions will be readable on devices made by competitors like Apple and even Amazon's reader, the Kindle.

Observers say that Google's decision not to launch its own ereader could pay off as readers will not be tied to any one piece of technology.

Although it will launch with far fewer titles than many of its established rivals, Google Editions is expected to quickly establish itself in the market, expected to be worth $966m in the US this year.

Dominique Raccah, an independent publisher based in Illinois, told the WSJ: "Google is going to turn every internet space that talks about a book into a place where you can buy that book... We think they could get 20 per cent of the ebook market very fast." ·