[Infowarrior] - Google plots e-books coup

[Richard Forno]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2095-2557728,00.html

The Sunday Times     January 21, 2007

Google plots e-books coup
Dominic Rushe
GOOGLE and some of the world¹s top publishers are working on plans that they
hope could do for books what Apple¹s iPod has done for music.

The internet search giant is working on a system that would allow readers to
download entire books to their computers in a format that they could read on
screen or on mobile devices such as a Blackberry.

With 380m people using Google each month, the move would give a significant
boost to the development of e-books and have a big impact on the publishing
industry and book retailers.

Jens Redmer, director of Google Book Search in Europe, said: ³We are working
on a platform that will let publishers give readers full access to a book
online.²

He did not believe taking books online would mean the end of the printed
word but it would give readers more options when it came to buying. ³You may
just want to rent a travel guide for the holiday or buy a chapter of a book.
Ultimately, it will be the readers who decide how books are read,² he said.

He added that after many years of setbacks the electronic book looked poised
to go main-stream. Commuters in Japan were already reading entire novels on
their mobile phones.

Sony recently launched its Reader, a digital book device with an online book
store stocking 10,000 titles. Amazon, the world¹s largest online book
seller, is also planning to launch an e-book service.

One of Google¹s partners, Evan Schnittman of Oxford University Press, said
he foresaw a number of categories becoming popular downloads: ³Do you really
want to go on holiday carrying four novels and a guide book?²

The book initiative would be part of Google¹s Book Search service and its
partnership with publishers, which will make books searchable online with
publishers¹ approval. At present, only a sample of each book is available
online.

Google users can search the book and see snippets relevant to their search;
web links then guide readers to sites such as Amazon where they can buy a
physical copy of the book. Major publishers such as Penguin, HarperCollins
and Simon & Schuster are among those involved in the project.

Redmer would not comment on timing or which publishers would be involved.
Google said the project was likely to come to fruition ³sooner rather than
later².

Google has an ambivalent relationship with the publishing industry. It is
being sued by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers
over its deal with major libraries to scan their collections. Publishers
argue the scheme infringes their copyright and Google should seek permission
from them before scanning works, as they do in the partnership programme.

Ben Vershbow of the Institute for the Future of the Book, a US think-tank,
said: ³Google seems to be simultaneously petting the industry and saying
everything is going to be all right if they just let everything go, but at
the same time telling them: ŒWe have you guys up against the wall¹.²