Is Google ready to enter e-book market?

… fragt das ReadWriteWeb und kommt zu dem Schluß, dass Ja:

  1. Google is getting ready to enter the eBook market by providing publishers with an infrastructure for direct-to-consumer sales.
  2. Google already offers browser-based versions of Google Books for iPhone and Android users
  3. If Google could sell eBooks directly, it would stand to make a far larger profit.
  4. with Google Books, Google also holds its own kind of monopoly for books on the Internet. After all, Google Books already makes 1.5 million out-of-copyright books available for free.
  5. Publishers will probably be happy to see more competition for Amazon, which, at $9.99, is holding the price for eBooks artificially low by subsidizing the price. According to the Times, Google would allow publishers to charge whatever price they prefer.
  6. Obwohl „even a company like Google will have a hard time breaking into this market“ against well established Amazon. [via @rww via @ericrumsey]