WisconsInnovation

First TV, Now Ebooks...Google does everything!

Posted by Patrick Lueck at 5:41 PM

Its seems as if Google has launched yet another technology application to compete with an established competitor. Just as Google TV and attempts to infiltrate social media Google has officially opened an e-bookstore to compete with Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Apple. In partnership with Sony and over 4,000 publishers the Google bookstore will offer more than 3 million books including millions for free. Google has made apps compatible with smartphones, e-readers and PCs so, in theory, a person could read a book on his/her e-reader at home, then on their phone on the way to the office and finally at the computer when they get there. Although this isn't really considered innovation because it isn't an original concept, there is a sense that whenever Google does something it is looking to one-up the companies that occupied the market before them. Time will tell how much importance the market will place on Google's brand name compared to the already established e-readers like Amazon's Kindle. Did Google make meaningful enough improvements to the concept to draw customers away from Amazon or bring former skeptics into the market?

   

Labels: ebooks, Google

4 comments:

1. Lacey Carlstrom said... December 6, 2010 at 6:45 PM

   This was a really good article. I think it's interesting that Apple and Barnes and Noble have both decided to allow the Google e-Bookstore to compete with their own bookstores, however Kindle did not. Kindle currently has the largest selection of e-books, but with the competition of Google they are really going to have to step up the game. I also like the fact that Google is getting coverage of academic and scholarly articles and books. This is a huge market that Amazon is currently lacking in. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out...  

2. Michelle said... December 6, 2010 at 8:44 PM

   I think many people have a positive image of Google so this will probably be well-accepted. I really like that you can use the Google books on different readers (with the exception of Kindle in some cases) and I wouldn't be surprised if this offers more encouragement for people to buy a reader if they haven't done so yet.  

3. Aric Rindfleisch said... December 6, 2010 at 11:01 PM

   I agree. This is an interesting article. Google and Apple share a sort of love-hate relationship and cooperate on some fronts while competing on others. Here is a link to an interesting Business Week article on this issue:
   
   http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_04/b4164028483414.htm  

4. Zac said... December 7, 2010 at 11:33 AM

   My roomate and I were talking about this last night. I wonder if google will be able to compete with Amazon. The e-book sector is definitely a growing market and we will see a lot of action in this industry over the next couple years. I think google will excel as a e-Bookstore and Amazon should definitely feel threatened. The ones who are really in trouble are the brick and mortar book stores, like Barnes and Noble. Although Barnes and Noble caught on and developed the Knook. Has anyone else heard that Borders is thinking about Barnes and Noble.  

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