Google Editions Adds New Products and Questions to the Book Search Unsettlement
In a panel discussion on May 4, 2010, Google announced to the imminent launch of Google Editions, its system for selling digital books. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Chris Palma, Google's manager for strategic-partner development, explained that Google Editions will be reader independent so that the books will read on a variety of devices. More importantly, it will allow book retailers to sell through Google Editions on their own websites, "giving partners the bulk of the revenue" according to the Journal article.
The potential for retailers or vertically integrated publisher-retailers to sell directly without the intervention of Amazon or Apple will make Google's entry into the digital book market very significant for the consumer. University bookstores can reconceptualize the course pack with a digital download package keyed to each course section number. A student needs only plug in the course and instructor (or the section number) and the required and recommended texts will be available for the student. Simple, easy and branded for the college experience.
I have previously written extensively about the issues faced by Google this past year in its strategic planning. (See -
The potential for retailers or vertically integrated publisher-retailers to sell directly without the intervention of Amazon or Apple will make Google's entry into the digital book market very significant for the consumer. University bookstores can reconceptualize the course pack with a digital download package keyed to each course section number. A student needs only plug in the course and instructor (or the section number) and the required and recommended texts will be available for the student. Simple, easy and branded for the college experience.
I have previously written extensively about the issues faced by Google this past year in its strategic planning. (See -
Searching Inside Google: Cases, Controversies and the Future of the World’s Most Provocative Company.) Google Editions fits nicely within the strategic planning for Google, pushing into Apple's business model and raising the competitive stakes between the two media delivery companies. It complements Google Books and connects the services between Google Book Search and the ability for consumers to buy the previously indexed books from Amazon and other retailers.
What is less clear is the relationship between Google Editions and the pending consent decree currently before the district court in New York. Google had been sued by a coalition of publishers, authors - and most recently - illustrators.
Google had previously developed a Partner Program in which it "partnered with over 20,000 publishers and authors to make their books discoverable on Google. [Consumers] can flip through a few preview pages of these books ... [and find] links to libraries and bookstores [to] borrow or buy the book."
Google Editions really is less of a change than a movement to an app-based model where retailers and website hosts can embed the sales on their sites and share in the revenue.
More important from the standpoint of the Book Search settlement is the manner in which the pricing for the books will be done. The settlement agreement gave Google a significant role in enabling publishers to coordinate and set prices. This power raises serious anti-trust concerns that the Justice Department questioned in its response to the proposed settlement. If Google Editions requires that retailer abide by these pricing controls, then the roll-out will have a profoundly negative effect. If instead, Google Editions provides publishers and retailers a platform to sell digital content at their own pricing - without pricing restrictions or the sharing of pricing data among competitors - then it will be an important next step in the evolution of digital content.
What is less clear is the relationship between Google Editions and the pending consent decree currently before the district court in New York. Google had been sued by a coalition of publishers, authors - and most recently - illustrators.
Google had previously developed a Partner Program in which it "partnered with over 20,000 publishers and authors to make their books discoverable on Google. [Consumers] can flip through a few preview pages of these books ... [and find] links to libraries and bookstores [to] borrow or buy the book."
Google Editions really is less of a change than a movement to an app-based model where retailers and website hosts can embed the sales on their sites and share in the revenue.
More important from the standpoint of the Book Search settlement is the manner in which the pricing for the books will be done. The settlement agreement gave Google a significant role in enabling publishers to coordinate and set prices. This power raises serious anti-trust concerns that the Justice Department questioned in its response to the proposed settlement. If Google Editions requires that retailer abide by these pricing controls, then the roll-out will have a profoundly negative effect. If instead, Google Editions provides publishers and retailers a platform to sell digital content at their own pricing - without pricing restrictions or the sharing of pricing data among competitors - then it will be an important next step in the evolution of digital content.
