Google Opens Up eBooks
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (
) --
Google's
(GOOG) - Get Report
eBooks venture kicked off on Monday, as the search giant ramps up its efforts to challenge
Amazon
(AMZN) - Get Report
in the digital book market.
The Google eBookstore contains more than 3 million titles, according to a Google blog posting on Monday, and the Internet firm says that it has hundreds of thousands of books for sale.
|
Rumors that Google was putting the finishing touches to its e-book effort
, with the
Wall Street Journal
reporting that the project had overcome several technical and legal hurdles.
In addition to a Web reader, Google is also offering free apps for Android and
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Report
devices, which it says will make it possible for consumers to shop and read from mobile devices such as smartphones and netbooks.
"For many books you can select which font, font size, day/night reading mode and line spacing suits you -- and pick up on the page where you left off when switching devices," the company said on the blog. Google is also offering eBooks via independent booksellers like
Powell's
and
Alibris
.
Software specialist
Adobe
(ADBE) - Get Report
is also reaping the benefits of Google's e-book efforts. The Apple and
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
rival announced on Monday that Google has licensed its Content Server 4 software to provide content protection for its eBooks offering.
Adobe touts Content Server as the most widely-used digital rights management product for e-books and other digital publications. In addition to Google, more than 200 publishers and content distributors have now deployed the technology, it said.
Shares of Adobe dipped 13 cents, or 0.45%, to $29.01 on Monday, as the Nasdaq slipped 0.09%. Shares of Google, whose stock price has been impacted by its
pursuit of daily deal site Groupon
, rose $6.23, or 1.09%, to $579.23.
--Written by James Rogers in New York.
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