One of the main benefits of Google's just-launched eBookstore is that you can read your free and for-pay e-books on a wide range of devices, ranging from the iPad and the Nook to a laptop or any phone with a modern mobile browser. Don't count on reading any purchased digital volumes from Google on your Kindle, however.
The long-awaited Google eBookstore finally opened its doors Monday, boasting hundreds of thousands of titles from big-name publishers like Penguin, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon and Schuster, and Hachette Book Group, as well as thousands of independent and individual book publishers.
Prices for bestselling books typically fall between $9.99 and $14.99 U.S., about what you'd expect to pay on Amazon's Kindle store, iTunes, or Barnes & Noble's online Nook storefront. Millions of free e-books are also available.
The big difference between Google and its competitors, though, is that you can read free and purchased eBooks on just about any device with a Javascript-enabled Web browser, from basic "feature" phones to laptops and desktops.
Google is also releasing custom e-book apps for iOS devices, such as the iPad and the iPhone, as well as for Android handsets (naturally).
Another option for Google eBookstore shoppers is to download a PDF or an ePub file (either open or DRM-protected, courtesy of Adobe), which you could load onto a PDF- or ePub-compatible e-reader like the Nook or the Sony Reader. (The ability to download books from Google's eBookstore alleviates one of my prior reservations about the service: that an Internet connection might be required to read a Google e-book.)
But while Amazon's Kindle e-reader is perfectly capable of displaying a standard PDF file, it still doesn't support the ePub format (well, not officially, at least), nor is it compatible with Adobe's e-book DRM platform.
That means if you buy, say, the latest James Patterson thriller from Google's eBookstore, you'll be able to read it on your desktop PC, your iPhone, the Nook, the Kobo eReader, the Sony Reader, or a garden-variety flip phone -- just not your Kindle.
Indeed, the lack of ePub support on the Kindle isn't just a problem for those using the Google eBookstore. As ZDNet's Larry Dignan has previously pointed out, ePub books lent out by libraries can't be read on a Kindle, and same goes for self-published authors who rely on the ePub format.
So, why doesn't the Kindle do the ePub thing, anyway? According to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the company is "innovating so rapidly" with features such as its Whispersync technology (which wirelessly syncs up your bookmarks and highlighted passages) and tweakable font sizes, that "it's helpful not to have to wait for some third-party standard to catch up."
Maybe so, but Amazon also has a strategic interest in its closed e-book format as it looks to fend off competitors like Apple and (now) Google.
Of course, none of this will matter if you're a die-hard Kindle user devoted only to Amazon's Kindle store, which happens to be one of the biggest online bookstores on the planet — or at least, it won't matter until you find a book in the Google eBookstore isn't available as a Kindle edition.
For its part, Google says it is "open" to supporting the Kindle "in the future," assuming Amazon ever decides to get on board.
