Google eBookstore Launched 88
angrytuna writes "The New York Times is running an article this morning about the launch of the Google ebook store. Independent bookstores such as Powell's, based in Portland, OR, have partnered with Google in this, selling the format directly in addition to their other ebook offerings. The ebooks appear to rely on Adobe Digital Editions for DRM; instructions are provided to transfer from the 'cloud' to a handheld device. iOS and Android have a dedicated app for accessing the store, and will download for offline immediately; other clients like the Nook and Sony eReader seem to be relying on the ADE platform to manage the transfer for offline reading."
NPR tried it out on a few different devices and posted their experience.
sigh (Score:5, Informative)
"It looks like you're located outside of the United States. Although you're welcome to read about Google eBooks, please note that Google eBooks are only available for sale to customers in the U.S. at this time."
sigh.
No (Score:5, Informative)
Google is advertising the store as compatible with computers, obviously (for those who want to read that way), but also with iPads and iPhones, Android devices, and standalone e-readers including Sony and Nook devices as well as others that run Adobe Digital Editions. (But not your Kindle, there, buddy.)
Some publishers do without DRM (Score:5, Informative)
I find it's always worth mentioning that there are publishers out there who respect their customers enough to not do the DRM dance, and from the author's view (yes, I am one) the danger of people not reading your stuff is more scary than the danger of not getting paid for every last copy.
Full disclosure: I have a book out on No Starch, The Book of PF, 2nd ed [nostarch.com].
No Point of Failure in Sight (Score:5, Informative)
I know that, but what I'm wondering about is at what point does Amazon admit that their format lost and add support for epub to their product. And hopefully drop .mobi as a failed file format.
Well, earlier this year, Amazon was enjoying 90% of the eBook market share [wsj.com]. It's projected to plummet over the next five years and I think the iPad gobbled up 22% of the eBook marketshare instantly [i4u.com]. Of course, I would bet that 22% was growth, not switch. Like, I think it's safe to say most people who bought iPads didn't sell/disable their Kindles immediately afterward and they probably had no eReader to begin with. I'm guessing that the Kindle still enjoys large numbers and has a comfortable lead still in market share [ecommercetimes.com].
At what point does Amazon admit defeat in this? Somewhere way down the road. If (as the article above predicts) they're still at 35% of the marketshare five years from now, then I'd say that it won't be happening until after then.
So aside from all that, you are dependent on Amazon just genuinely caring about the end user experience and giving up some lock-in that they've already established. *snicker*
Personally I'm making due with my android phone and awaiting the color readers (Hanvon, etc) as I'm really interested in what this could do for the graphic novel/comic industry. For too long it's been dominated by large publishers.
Re:so far seem to be identical prices (Score:3, Informative)
In theory it seems that more competition should be good for prices, but not so far: everything I looked up is priced identically to the Kindle price.
That's because a lot of books are under the "Agency Model" where if you want to sell the books you may not mess with the price at all. You can't do sales on the books, etc. Amazon, B&N, Sony, and now Google are powerless to move prices on these books. Great for competition huh?
Re:Some publishers do without DRM (Score:5, Informative)
True, some publishers do without DRM. And Google eBooks allows publishers who choose to do without DRM to deliver their ebooks without DRM.
Re:Linux users locked out? (Score:4, Informative)
They say you can read in a web browser with javascript enabled.