Google opens "eBookstore" service in the United States on Monday, December 7, 2010 with almost 4,000 publishers. [Photo: AFP]
Google opens "eBookstore" service in the United States with almost 4,000 publishers, gearing up to expand its revenue sources beyond traditional online advertising and pose a challenge to Amazon and Apple's dominance of the e-books market.
Google said the service, called Google eBooks, features "more than three million titles including hundreds of thousands for sale".
The company says the service is designed to be open. It can be accessed with any devices with a web browser and e-readers from multiple operating systems, but not compatible with Amazon's Kindle.
Google has scanned more than 15 million printed books into its computers since 2004, and the store is expected to arrive in Europe and Asia next year.
