Google e-Books

As I foreshadowed last week, Google has unveiled their Google e-Bookstore (emphasis mine):

Today is the first page in a new chapter of our mission to improve access to the cultural and educational treasures we know as books. Google eBooks will be available in the U.S. from a new Google eBookstore. You can browse and search through the largest ebooks collection in the world with more than three million titles including hundreds of thousands for sale.

We designed Google eBooks to be open. Many devices are compatible with Google eBooks—everything from laptops to netbooks to tablets to smartphones to e-readers.

You can discover and buy new ebooks from the Google Bookstore or get them from one of our independent bookseller partners: Powell’s, Alibris and participating members of the American Booksellers Association. You can choose where to buy your ebooks like you choose where to buy your print books, and keep them all on the same bookshelf regardless of where you got them.

(W)e’ve digitized more than 15 million books from more than 35,000 publishers, more than 40 libraries, and more than 100 countries in more than 400 languages. This deep repository of knowledge and culture will continue to be searchable through Google Books search in the research section alongside the ebookstore.

Read more at the Official Google Blog. This is a significant innovation in the world of e-books and open commerce, one that is sure to shift the e-book market.

Update: It looks like Google has drawn a firm line in the sand, as it offers compatibility with Sony’s e-reading devices and Barnes and Noble’s Nook, but it offers no support for Amazon’s Kindle (though Google notes they are “open to supporting (Kindles) in the future”).