Internet giant Google is planning to begin its sale of digital books by late June or July, a media report said.
The Wall Street Journal stated that Chris Palma, Google's manager for strategic-partner development, announced a time table for Google's e-book launch plans at a publishing- industry panel meet in New York on Tuesday.
Google has been speaking about its vision on distributing books online for several years now. More recently, over the last few months, it has been evangelising a new service called Google Editions.
"The company is hoping to distinguish Google Editions in the marketplace by allowing users to access books from a broad range of websites using an array of devices, unlike rivals that are focused on proprietary devices and software," the report said.
While Palma did not give out the details, he said that users of Google Editions would be able to read books from the web browser —- nullifying the need for an e-reader device.
Though the company is also keen on building softwares to optimise reading on certain e-devices, such as iPhones and iPads, it has not announced any specific plans in that regard, WSJ added.
According to Google, users would also be able to buy digital copies of literature they find through its book search service. It will also allow book retailers to sell Google Editions on their own sites, giving partners the bulk of the revenue, the report said.
Though publishers are yet to publicly commit themselves to the service, Google is not expected to run into much trouble in that regard, WSJ said.
