Mon Oct 19, 2009 7:35 am
Internet search giant Google is launching an online service that will let readers buy some half-a-million electronic versions of books and read them on cell phones in the first half of next year.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company said its project, called Google Editions, offers an alternative to market leader Amazon's Kindle reader, which also said it would offer books for smartphones.
It's part of an ambitious plan that started with Google's books scanning project, which aimed to make millions of printed books available online.
"We expect the majority will go to retail partners, not to Google," said Tom Turvey, head of Google Book Search. "We are a wholesaler, a book distributor."
E-books purchased through Google Editions will be readable on any device that has a Web browser -- including smartphones, netbooks, desktop computers and laptops.
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