Is this a game-changer?
Google announced the release of their new E-Bookstore which provides digital books on the Android, nearly all of Apple’s products, the web and the Sony and the Nook.
Wow.
If anything the UI is clean and loads very quick, with the previews and samples being very nice:
Thoughts? Is this going to take over the market?
Geek for Him says
I always welcome competition, it breeds excellence!
brett barner says
a bit late to the party, but competition ultimately helps the customer. So that’s something.
That being said, I doubt it will do very well. People still view Google as 1st, a search engine, and 2nd, a service provider. People generally have trouble viewing Google as a retailer. (eg. Nexus one) Its competition is Amazon, Barnes & Noble (kind of), and Apple, all of which are established retailers.
People go to Google to find retailers, not merchandise.
Sometimes the Google branding is great. But with retail, it has been a struggle due to their brand unless they provide a corresponding service. (eg. This is why I believe their eventual music cloud retail store will do fine due to its connection services with devices such as Android. It provides a corresponding service.)
Kyle Reed says
It seems like just another thing google is trying to do but will end up more like google wave then google reader.
I could eat my words for that though.
Chris Loach says
very interesting. will google create more pricing wars in the ebook market? when will they step foot into the music market?
Clay Conry says
I am a kindle/droid guy so not so much.
But for the Droid/Sony guy this would totally own!
John Gibbs says
I think the range of new-release books that they can offer at attractive prices will be the most important feature. At the moment, Amazon seem to offer the best range of new books, but there are still enormous numbers of new books not available in any digital form, and many books in digital form are priced unrealistically. The Google model may require more data transfer, as the books are hosted in the cloud and not on your book-reading device, and wireless data fees and the need to have a constant Internet connection might create disadvantages.