Google to move into the ebook market at end of year

Google is moving into the ebook market from the end of this year with Google Editions, which will let people buy electronic books that they can read in any device with a web browser.

The delayed launch, which had been expected by the end of the summer, will pitch the search engine giant into competition with Amazon and Apple, which have been building their own competing platforms respectively with the Kindle and the iPad, which runs the iBooks e-reading software.

A UK launch is expected next year to follow the US launch.

Google Editions will let people buy ebooks from Google or from the websites of independent bookstores, which are still struggling to compete with the two larger rivals and with Barnes & Noble, which has its own "Nook" ebook reader.

Customers would be able to set up accounts for buying books, which would be stored in an online "library", probably on Google's own servers, and read them on devices connected to the net such as smartphones or tablet computers. Millions of books would be available for free.

Google has also taken measures to prevent piracy of books, tying them to buyers' accounts and splitting them into small pieces which would be very hard to reassemble into a book.

The American Booksellers Association, a trade group for independent sellers, told the New York Times that more than 200 bookstores across the country could sign up. Users can already see previews of millions of new and backlist books in the Google Books program.

It is unclear whether Google Editions will be successful in luring consumers of ebooks away from established retailers such as Amazon, which already offers customers the ability to buy ebooks and read them on the Kindle, and from other devices such as the iPad through the Kindle app.

However there is a growing number of 7" tablet computers being offered for sale which run Google's Android mobile phone system, and which will be able to link up to Google servers easily. That could offer a readymade audience for the company's offering. Samsung claims that it has already sold more than 600,000 of its Galaxy Tab product, though it is unclear whether this is to buyers or retailers.

A greater concern may be over how the content is protected: publishers are fearful that widespread adoption of ebooks could lead to spiralling piracy mirroring that seen in the music business. But Google says in the page about security for Editions that "once a Google Edition is purchased and is added to a consumer's bookshelf, it can only be accessed when the consumer logs into his or her Google account. When Google Editions are purchased on our site, a Google account is needed to access the content, reducing the likelihood that consumers will share their login information with others".

It adds: "Each consumer's Google Edition has a unique coding that caches the book when it is accessed through a browser (as opposed to a digital download) ... This means that the Google Edition is broken down into fragments and temporarily stored in – and accessed through – the browser window. The Google Editions web experience, therefore, is not that of a file download – it is an experience that is optimised for reading in the browser. This allows Google to detect and protect against abuse of each Google Edition."

Ebooks are growing in popularity as the cost of readers has dropped: the latest Kindle costs less than £99.

Oren Teicher, the chief executive of the American Booksellers Association, told the New York Times that he expected the vast majority of independent bookstores that already participate in the association's IndieCommerce program, an online retail platform, to sign up for Google Editions.

The bookstores on that list are some of the best-known independents in the US, including Books & Books, which has stores in south Florida and Grand Cayman; Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, California; and the Elliott Bay Book Co in Seattle.

"It's clear that a certain percentage of readers are going to want to read books electronically, and independent bookstores can curate that content in the same way we curate content for physical books," Teicher told the paper. "This is an opportunity to do so, and we're eagerly looking forward to it."

Cathy Langer, the lead book buyer for the Tattered Cover bookstores in Denver, said she had been waiting for the introduction of Google Editions with "great anticipation", explaining: "I always say that indies need to be players in all parts of the game, so this is going to be great to bring us into the ebook game in a reasonable, affordable way," she said. "We would like to make a little money off of it. But we have got to stop the bleeding."