Google has some impressive technologies when it comes to the online book industry. Their massive Google books library has translated millions upon millions of works, including classic literature and contemporary items. Their actual bookstore, released late last year, gives users unprecedented access to many of these digitized items, while their database has quickly become a valuable resource in looking at the trends of writing through the ages. Now, Google is pushing further into that industry by purchasing an eBook group.
According to the report at Tech Crunch, Google bought the company eBook Technologies. While the exact date of purchase hasn’t been confirmed, an official message appeared on the eBook Technologies home page and was corroborated by a statement from a Google representative. That statement indicated that the purpose of the acquisition was to “deliver richer reading experiences on tablets, electronic readers, and other portable devices.”
Exactly what eBook Technologies brings to the table is less than obvious, with a site description indicating only that their focus is on eBooks for “intelligent reading devices,” including “automatic publishing” and “control over content distribution.” Those are some great descriptions of what they do, but how is the more important matter here, and the company fails to really mention that on the current version of their site.
Luckily, archived versions of the site give us a few more hints as to what Google’s plan may be. eBook Technologies has been developing both hardware for eBooks and eBook distribution technologies. While it’s possible that Google will invest in the hardware, it’s far more likely that they’ll be looking into what seems to be cross-platform distribution tech for the digital medium. Beyond the statement quoted above, though, we don’t have a confirm from Google, so the official details will be learned when they’re actually deployed.
