Google Launches ebook Store

Google isn't new to the business of ebook distribution. Since the inauguration of Google Books in 2004, they have digitized more than 15 million books from more than 35,000 publishers. With the opening of their online electronic bookstore, Google now officially enters the lucrative ebook market which has experienced a stranglehold by electronic commerce company, Amazon.com. According to an AFP report, US spending on ebooks is expected to reach US966 million dollars in 2010, compared to US301 million dollars spent last year.

Google, 6th December 2010 - 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. Find the latest bestsellers like James Patterson’s Cross Fire and Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, dig into popular reads like Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken and catch up on the classics like Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities and Gulliver’s Travels.

For now, however, purchasing of ebooks from Google's eBookstore is only available to users located in the United States. Check out Google's blog post to find out more.