Google jumps on the online bookstore bandwagon

Following in the footsteps of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple, Google announced today that the search giant will be launching an online bookstore this summer. The bookstore will launch as Google Editions and will include a Google-managed online storefront as well as an affiliate program that will allow book retailers and independent shops to sell Google Editions’ books on their own website. Google will leverage its current book search service to provide customers with the ability to search and purchase books from the online bookstore. The list of publishers and expected pricing was not revealed but given the current competitive climate, we would expect Google Editions to follow suit with the current offering from Amazon, B&N, and Apple. 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. Note to all the Android coders out there: you may want to start designing that knock out e-reader pronto.