Google’s new eBooks, or Google Books depending on which name you like better, appears to be challenging a market which has been controlled by a hand full of companies for manufacturing devices along with those which are distributing the eBooks themselves.
There are several things going for Google with this new offering. The first is they are representing smaller book distributors in their store which the larger ones have bypassed. They are offering a large selection of free books which will encourage many to participate. The biggest item going for them is they are device independent.
That is the technology shift in this market area. Up to this time, you had to have a device to download the eBook to so you could read it. If you start to ask who already has one of those, it will not take long to find someone who does. They are very popular and for this Christmas season, they will sell very well. Next year will be a different story.
Google is offering the ability to read an electronic book on any device which can connect to the web. That includes you mobile phone, your laptop, your desktop computer and most importantly is your tablet. This is where things are going to shift away from how eBooks are read today. Tablets will turn into devices people carry with them everywhere they go during the next year. We are in the early stages of tablets and will see many released next year along with the iPad 2 in the 2nd quarter.
Why carry around two devices, one to read you eBooks and another to connect to the web. It just doesn’t make sense. The timing for Google could not be better. The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a great size to carry with you and hold your eBook. You can connect to the web to do just about anything you would do on a laptop. There is not enough participation by all the potential tablet vendors in this market yet and 2011 should see many more coming. 2012 should be the year of full blown competition in the space.
With the current eReader devices on the market, they are being used by all ages now. As is normal with technology, people in the age groups of 20′s and 30′s generally adapt to new technology much faster. Tablet computers, as the coming wave, will stat with that group and expand beyond that very quickly. The result will be a move from the current eReaders to tablet devices which will be used as eReaders. A shift which will benefit Google.
