According to the US’s Wall Street Journal and Taiwan’s Economic Daily News, search engine giant Google will probably introduce its own e-book service at the end of this year, setting off an e-book reader war with Amazon and Sony.

In the US a real book can cost up to US$26 but Kindle e-book costs just US$9.99.  Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader has been widely praised in the US and the reasonable cost is also one reason for its popularity with consumers.  However, profit allocation has always been a bone of contention between Amazon and publishers. Google plans to allow publishers to set their own reasonable e-book end price and this is bound to raise the sales price of Google e-books.
Google Book, once the source of controversy in the US, has reached a win-win deal with publishers. Internet users can browse 20% of a book’s pages on Google Book and can link to Amazon and other book buying platforms to make purchases. However Google’s e-book service will allow consumers to buy the e-version of a book directly through Google Book. The purchased book can be read using a PC, a mobile phone or other device that allows the user to connect to the Internet. Google’s director of strategic partnerships Tom Turvey said “ We don’t believe that having a silo or a proprietary system is the way that e-books will go”. After he said this on June 2, the stock price of Taiwan’s Kindle supplier Prime View International(8069) fluctuated violently for two days, with the largest drop reaching 10%

A battle is set to break out between Google’s Internet e-book service and Amazon and Sony’s closed systems. The lower price (selling at a loss) of the closed system and the provision of a comfortable and convenient mobile reading experience are the advantage of closed type systems. However, Google allows instant access to books for readers and does not require any special equipment, and it can be expected to attract a certain proportion of consumers. Google can be accessed all around the world but Kindle is available in only a few countries in mainly North America and Europe meaning it is inevitable that in the future Google’s e-book service will replace the digital-reading and publishing market and have a major impact. As to whether the battle between the giants will bring about a change in people’s reading habits, TELDAP researchers will continue to observe closely.

Related News-
Google to introduce e-books and go head to head with Amazon, Economic Daily News, June 2, 2009 http://mag.udn.com/mag/digital/storypage.jsp?f_MAIN_ID=314&f_SUB_ID=2922&f_ART_ID=196962
Google plans to release an e-book service (requiring registration as a member), Wall Street Journal, June 2, 2009
http://chinese.wsj.com/big5/20090602/tec103025.asp?source=UpFeature