Google Books vs Amazon Kindle
On Thursday Google announced new mobile editions of 1.5 million public domain books. iPhone and Android users now have access to five times the number of titles currently available on Kindle.
While these books were already available on Google Book Search, these new mobile editions are optimized to be read on a small screen.
The timing of this announcement comes 4 days before the likely unveiling on the Kindle 2. Coincidence? I think not.
Of course, the titles currently available through Google Books are different from those on Kindle. We’re talking public domain versus the front list of bestsellers. But how long is that going to last?
Last month I wrote about the future of gBooks which is contingent on the blessing of the settlement agreement with the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers.
Once this agreement has been approved, you’ll be able to purchase full online access to millions of books. This means you can read an entire book from any Internet-connected computer, simply by logging in to your Book Search account, and it will remain on your electronic bookshelf, so you can come back and access it whenever you want in the future.
Add it up. Sometime this year Google will have well over 3 million titles available and optimized for the small screen. In addition, authors and publishers have a clear and decent revenue share (63%) with the search giant.
What makes anyone think Google will stop with public domain and out-of-print books?
Authors and publishers would welcome an alternative to the increasingly combative Amazon. Last year Amazon put the squeeze to large publishers and Print On Demand (POD) publishers. Is it any wonder that Amazon couldn’t convince textbook publishers to play ball with a textbook Kindle.
Google will have public domain and out-of-print books available to deliver to a built-in base of customers. That’s right, there’s no new device to purchase! Particularly not a single-use device with a $359 price tag.
That larger base of customers is going to look very attractive to publishers. How long until they agree to sell front list bestsellers through Google?
Gadget fans will clearly swoon over Kindle 2 but the real story is the growing competition between Google and Amazon in the digital book arena. The timing of Google’s mobile version is a shot over Amazon’s bow. The industry should take notice and the Internati should be looking beyond the hype.
February 7th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Thanks for keeping us up-to-date. For sure, the Google vs. Amazon tussle will be interesting to watch. And I too think Google may eventually entice new writers into its fold.
February 8th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
What is all this going to mean to the brick and mortar stores like B & N and Borders? I watched Larry McMurty talking about the “death of Books” last week, and it seems pretty scary to me. I am still in love with books, but I see younger people that are addicted to “gadgets”, is this where all this is leading?
February 8th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Tom,
Thanks and you’re right, I think Google could entice writers. They have a lot of pieces in place to make an offering to them.
Gin,
Well B&N and particularly Borders are in trouble. The latter is likely headed toward some sort of bankruptcy IMO. They’re not only getting squeezed by online forces but by big box retailers like Walmart, Target and Costco.
Yet, according to a recent NEA report reading is actually up! It increased most dramatically among 18-to-24-year-olds, who had previously shown the most significant declines. Maybe it’s the Harry Potter effect or that they’re burnt out on gadgets. Either way … I think books are still here in a big way, but it will evolve.
Thank you both for stopping by!
February 9th, 2009 at 6:38 am
Will some hacker find a way to have a PC browser emulate an iPhone and be able to view entries in Google’s free e-books?
March 4th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Kindle released an application today to view Kindle DRM books on the iPhone: http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/03/04/amazons-kindle-hits-the-iphone/
As an owner of a Kindle, an iPhone and a Sony reader (pre-Kindle release)… Google not having an option to download books in mobile format to save to my computer’s hard drive and read on my device of choice still leaves me preferring to pay Amazon for Kindle titles over the browser option of the free Google books. Five times the number of titles doesn’t matter since I can’t stand using my iPhone as a reading device.
“you’ll be able to purchase full online access to millions of books. This means you can read an entire book from any Internet-connected computer”
My interest stops with ‘on-line access’. The beauty of my Kindle is I can pay to download 1000s of books while connected, but then take them anywhere in the world with me, and not have to worry about connecting to the internet in order to read.
I’d happily pay for book titles from Google if I could download rather than browse to them.
It’s no different than my iTunes… once I pay for songs, I don’t want to have to access the internet to continue to enjoy them.
Perhaps I am in the minority over my lack of desire to read on-line, so it will be interesting to see where the trend takes the Google v. Amazon battle.
March 8th, 2009 at 12:39 am
I agree with Mr. RustyDogma. I’ve a Kindle on its way to me. There are already many free books to download to it. Freekindlebooks.org is one site. I’ll be buying books from Amazon too. Regnery Publishing has worked out a deal with Amazon to sell book for Kindle throught them. I’d like to see others doing this. Book of the Month Club, The History Book Club, and others, it would seem, could sell books in a Kindle format. As for Google’s read-on-line only approach, I certainly hope they reconsider that one. It’s helpful, of course, but it’s not the best option.
June 29th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I just gotta say I love my kindle and the cheap books.
My taste is a bit rough but I enjoyed “The Misogynist” by Emily Downs.
It can be a bit vulgar at times. Be warned. But it’s cheap.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Misogynist/dp/B001V5J4VO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246301307&sr=1-2
She is the bestselling author of “Lisa Loves Girls”
http://www.amazon.com/Lisa-Loves-Girls-ebook/dp/B002EZZJ4Q/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246298800&sr=1-7
2 books for under 2 bucks. THe kindle will own publishing.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
If I could get Google Books on a dedicated reader, like my kindle 2, that would be amazing. I refuse to read on a device that emits light, causes eye-fatigue and has as small a screen as my Iphone, just like I refuse to watch movies on portable devices.
It’s the Kindle as a piece of hardware that’s valuable to me. It’s intuitive and readable and it took less than a day to get use to it. In my first week of owning it (I just got it) I reread my favorite F. Scott Fitzgerald, knocked out a few screenplays on PDF’s I’d been meaning to read (I hate the formatting issues on the PDF’s though), tore through a David Sedaris book, have read and re-read Updike’s last book of poetry before he died and have just started THE GUIDE TO AFRICAN CINEMA. I never read real books that much.
The simple fact is the screen tech is amazing and causes almost less eye strain than even regular paper for me. If Google can port to a real dedicated reader, I’d be all over that (I haven’t tried the sony reader yet, mostly because I hear their selection is weak).
July 26th, 2009 at 3:23 am
[…] may have more competition than Apple did, with Google being the biggest. In February, Google announced the availablity of 1.5M books optimized for mobile devices using Google’s Android software. These aren’t mainstream […]
September 1st, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Great posts by RustyDogma and Joshua Dysart. Google is not a device seller per se. They are a technology company. As such, I think it is only a matter of time before their books become viewable on some type of mobile reader, the Sony reader behaps? But it won’t be the Amazon Kindle. Bezos seems to operate more like Jobs at Apple. They want their machines to be proprietary and closed. So, yes, I agree that Google and Amazon are heading to a meeting in the alley on electronic books. But maybe that is not a bad thing.