Google Editions e-book service launching this summer
By Donald Melanson 
posted May 4th 2010 1:43PM
posted May 4th 2010 1:43PM
posted May 4th 2010 1:43PM
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Who did they buy to make this possible?
@yulebellow I think "The Wall Street Journal", that is the source, right?
@yulebellow : guys, when 2012 comes, and the apocalypse is actually when Google takes over the world, cry. Cry.
Tomorrow, Google will probably announce a Desktop Operating system, that runs programs from all operating systems, and make their own computer hardware!!
AAAHHH!!
@blenderman345 : Note, I'm actually kinda happy about Google taking over the world. 'The United States of Google' sound catchy or what?
@NewBie
Books have always been the source of the wisdom of entire mankind. To see so many of them (if not almost all) go under the ownership of one privately owned corporation for which they can charge us any price they set, or make a book disappear without any trace, makes me cringe.
I'm not saying they are doing it or they will do it... but there's a chance they can legally do all that and none of us will have any say.
Just say this to yourself and you'll know what I mean:
"The source of wisdom of entire mankind belongs to a corporation!"
@blenderman345
I don't understand why people think that Google is bad. Microsoft "controlls" 90% of computers in the world but I don't see anyone being afraid of that.
@who said what
Google don't own the books, doofus.
@RincewindWiz
I'm fine you calling me doofus. You are entitled to it. But please try to read at least some parts of the book settlement issue before you do that. And if you can point me to specific resources that correct me, I'll be grateful. It's always good to get the facts right.
Name-calling doesn't really help much.
@RincewindWiz
This was the link I found useful:
http://io9.com/5501426/5-ways-the-google-book-settlement-will-change-the-future-of-reading
Let me know if you know better.
@Firidan I don't think Google is bad. I see them more as a bunch of geeks who made a lot of money and not really knowing what to do with it, decided they'd just do the geekiest things possible with it.
As much power as they weild atm, they are pretty benign when you consider exactly how powerful they are. They're like the Jolly giant. Sure every now and then he inadvertantly tramples over a house or 2 but otherwise he's actually less of a threat to people than, say, the local armed militia (Apple). People don't like Google because he's big and is everywhere and they are scared of his power.
@who said what There is nothing a: preventing an author from opting out of this and b: preventing said author from approving any other company providing a digital copy.
@yulebellow Google promises that every books (majority) will be for free. Isn't this great or what? Review: http://j.mp/google-edition-ebook-service
Official Android book app?
@B3astofthe3ast
Would be awesome. Especially if they offered textbooks for school....
Evo would be my life...
@B3astofthe3ast
I already use Google Books on different devices. Integration w Chrome OS and Android I could see.
I just don't want to keep buying the same book four times depending on what the "latest" device is. Google's cloud might partially solve that.
Google will soon become it's own government and won't have to ansswer to anyone! Governments will be answering to Google hahaha!! Man, but seriously these people know how to make money!
@hero785
" let book retailers sell Google Editions on their own site and retain the "bulk of the revenue
it sounds like they want the retailers to garner most of the profit. which is a good thing, cuz it's insane how much profit these publishers are losing through this transition to e-books.
@inspiron41
I know but I'm sure they will get a certain % of that revenue. And collectively that'a a lot of money. They are playing smart, luring them in with the "keep most of the revenue". There's always a catch in there which in the end will equal more google money. You dig?
@inspiron41
Good. Now imagine, with ebooks maybe we can skip the publishers altogether and the author can sell the book.
@hero785 Not as much as you might think. Google's business model as almost always been give it away and see what advertising opportunities there are in the future :)
This could easily just be a way for them to get more users and allow publishers to sell their books and take all the profits at the same time.
@hero785
My guess (from reading this) as well as my hope is that Google says: "you set the price you want to sell it for, and we'll take x%." Hopefully the percentage will be low, and I suspect it will be. Also, if publishers can set their own prices then they can be competitive while still making money. Open competition will be what the publishers want (instead of Google setting a price), and will benefit the consumers since it should lead to lower prices.
@mr88
True and the reason I said money making. Think about it, that X% in terms of money and if you have enough retailers to take on your offer and set their own prices (which I think will be higher than what google would have thought of) then google is still going to make money from traffic and X% of sales added on top. So either way they make money. Nothing wrong with it, matter of fact I admire their business model, it works so well, lets just hope there's no stupid anti-trust lawsuit here or some sort of similar bs from other companies trying to block this move!
@hero785
I agree 100%. Like I said, makes sense for all parties involved - Google, publishers, consumers. The only people who might not like it are Apple, Amazon, etc, because Google has the power to become very competitive very quickly.
I'm interested to see if they add any "features" to the books. Personally I could do without them, but with eBooks there are many possibilities to do more than just digitize a print edition of a book. If Google doesn't do anything in that area then I have a feeling Apple will. Google could have lower prices but Apple more "features" (not hating on Apple, but most of the features probably won't actually be used that often, just more of a selling point).
@mr88
So far MS, Amazon, and I think Apple are trying to block google's move to digitize prints. They are fighting againts google and so is the writers guild. I don't see an issue in digitize prints especially if you are guaranteed huge chunk of revenue and you still have the ownership. I love reading and would love to have all my books in some sort of electronic form and save some trees (not a tree hugger but environmental aware). So lets see how it plays out.
@hero785 Nothing sells products better than word of mouth!
@iucidium
True. Picture this
Lauren asks Gill; What are you up to girl?
Gill: Just reading a book I found from google and apparantely they have retailers that carry them too. I love their selection, this one is about a woman that conquers it all
Lauren: That sounds interesting, I'll go take a look
--She goes and looks at the retailer with books by google banner at the top and she buys the book. She likes it and tells her friends at the spa
--Friends decide to go give a look and find that it's all true, good prices, great services and discounts too. So they spread the word.
--Revenues start to grow and profits are made and book readers rejoice and those who are environmentally aware will give google thumbs up. Ka ching
but somewhere along those lines I expect some anti-trust, anticompetetitive bs because a certain company or person is angry that they didn't think of it first. Ha!
Google has way too much spare capital.
@Evan false :P
@Evan
No such thing...I wish I had that much spare capital :-P
@Evan
Believe it or not, that's what some analysts are saying and also why the CEO of Yahoo! was saying Google needs to diversify.
They all say the same thing. Google has so much money they aren't exactly sure what to do with it. They dabble in projects and experiements but rarely ever truly push through with any clear business model; much of that is they have so much money they can afford to just throw it into any project at a whim.
I like having Google around. It helps balance the other big players like Apple. Google is a much, much bigger threat to Apple than any other company. But to stay in that position, they are going to need to push their projects beyodn just the "grand experiment" stage.
Wouldn't call myself a fan of Google, but I appreciate that they help to keep other players a bit honest. And damn, most of their things are free. It's hard not to like them.
Oooh this sounds nice. Throw an Android app. in with this and I am in HEAVEN,
@Darkseider
I wouldnt be surprised if they do release a android app for this in june because Froyo 2.2 is going to be announced on May 20 and release in June.
YAY, maybe i can actually have a really library store on the android platform, which has been severely neglected ...even by amazon kindle. I'm up for anything that brings me more books to read!!
thats great news and all, but google, you need to kick these manufacturers into high gear and get some of these android tablets rolling
@Luffy
no
@Air Force One sent from my....?
so this mean we are gonna get the gPad (Android powered) with Google Edition builtin, pretty soon ?
I'm just disappointed that there won't be a google of books/titles available when the service kicks off...only 600k titles? Sounds like the most blatant case of false advertising since that suit against the Neverending Story.
/s
Google to Apple: "Anything you can do I can do better... na na na na, better than you"
Apple to Google: "You're so immature."
Google: "Shut up, that's why."
@XciteMe Have you written an Android app? planning to pick a HTC desirable soon :)
@XciteMe
erm... google books was announced years ago... just fyi...
This is amazing good news, as Google Book Search is already really convenient as is. It would be nice to find a book and buy it in one fell swoop.
It's about time!
I have been waiting for this.
Oh man. Amazon is gonna be sooooo pissed. Sounds like just the kind of business model publishers have been longing for. If most of the money gets in the hands of the author then I'm happy, just make it available for all e-readers.
This is a good thing. Hopefully an official reader app is incoming too.
GOOGLE, STOP COPYING EVERYTHING APPLE DOES!!
@iCole
Said the person who copied them by putting "i" before his name, you're coooooooooool
@iCole I know i feel the same way, anyway Google fans aré really crazy about it, they even want to change the name of our contry o Google hahaha i see some people saying they will be in heaven and so on, this things have already been done by Apple! Hey but if it is Google it's ok, one guy even discribed apple's money making scheme of the app store. Go Google fans! Go
@Blocparty
i'm repeating myself right now but what the hell...
"erm... google books was announced years ago... just fyi..."
justfuckinggoogleit[DOT]com
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