After months of delay, Google will be making its push into digital bookselling with the end-of-2010 launch of Google Editions, a service which will let people read e-books on any device with a web browser, including smartphones and laptops. The service, expected to roil the publishing industry, will also let customers buy e-books from Google or from independent bookstore websites, giving small booksellers their best shot yet to compete with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple, which dominate sales of e-books. But will Google Editions really be able to lure customers away from those established players?
Google Editions is no Amazon slayer: Google is joining the game too late, says Kit Eaton at Fast Company. It's "big rivals have had plenty of time" to secure their dominant positions. Customers hooked on Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iPad will prefer to stick with the sellers they know. And publishers may not "embrace (and trust) the monster," given fears that Google's open system is too vulnerable to piracy.
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