Google Editions: Bringing E-Books to Your Browser

Image via CrunchBase

JR Raphael

Google wants to bring your digital book reader into the cloud.

The company has justannounced plans to launch its own digital bookstore, a Web-based effort called Google Editions. The store will open sometime toward the middle of the year, a Google spokesperson confirmed to me, possibly as early as late June or July. And unlike many of the current e-book options on the market, Google Editions will let you buy and use its books wherever you want.

The news of Google Editions' impending debut comes from Chris Palma, Google's strategic partner development manager (try saying that three times fast). As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, Palmadisclosed the Google Editions timetable during a talk at Random House's New York offices this week.

The session was called "The Book on Google: Is the Future of Publishing in the Cloud?" And that title speaks volumes about Google's plans to flip the digital book industry upside down.

Unlike its e-book-selling contemporaries -- Amazon, with its Kindle; Barnes and Noble, with its Nook; and Apple, with its iBooks -- Google Editions will allow you to download and read books using only your Web browser. That means any device that can surf the Web is fair game: your laptop, your computer, even your Kindle, Nook, or iPad. No separate apps or interfaces will be required.

Google Editions: Bringing E-Books to Your Browser