Google today unveiled its long-rumored entry into the e-book sales world, not called Google Editions, as was previously speculated, but a more anonymous-sounding Google eBooks. The basic idea is to provide an entirely web-based e-book platform accessible from any device with a browser. The business model they’ve opted for is slightly less centralized than the competition, but not quite the distributed seller network I envisioned last week.
My wool-gathering regarding the decentralization of the e-book store model are all in that post, so we’ll just focus on the particulars of eBooks service for now. Screenshots and details inside.
Google eBooks Live, Adobe Touts Its Role
No sooner had Google (GOOG) launched its online e-book marketplace, Google eBooks, this morning, than Adobe (ADBE) was out with the press release: Google has chosen to use Adobe’s Content Server 4 for the copyright protection (digital rights management) of the book sales, Adobe said.
Adobe shares are down 14 cents, or half a point, at $28.99, while Google shares are up $5.58, or 1%, at $578.63.
GoodReads is their first (and only, at launch) “affiliate network” partner; eBooks services will be tied into the social reading site and revenue will be split three ways. On that topic, the revenue splitting scheme is divided into several categories. The major publishers will be taking 70% of the list price, others will be taking 52%, and the many independent bookstores and publishers Google has negotiated with have their own undisclosed rates.
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