Google Launches eBook Store in Germany But Faces Challenges with Limited Selection
It took a long time, but just a few days ago, it finally happened: The Google eBooks Store opened its doors in Germany. Google had already supplied the main English-speaking markets with its own eBook sales offering at the end of last year, but otherwise, there wasn’t much progress globally in terms of further expansion. This is mainly due to necessary negotiations with publishers—and the issue is not resolved despite the launch of Google eBooks in Germany.
Although the tech giant has now made its offering publicly accessible, the selection is still disappointing at the moment. According to Spiegel, only six out of the twenty books from the Top 10 Spiegel fiction and nonfiction bestsellers are available in Google’s selection. According to Buchreport, this is partly because the poor terms Google offers publishers for the sale of eBooks. Typically, publishers receive 70 percent of the net price from Apple or Amazon—Google reportedly only pays 52 percent.
Whether this is the main reason why Google’s book selection currently leaves much to be desired is, of course, open to speculation. But given that Amazon and Apple already hold a larger market share of the eBook market and prices are uniform due to fixed book pricing, there are probably few good reasons for a publisher to jump on the Google bandwagon right now.
However, from a user’s perspective, there is a nice feature: you can return purchased eBooks within seven days. This time frame is enough to finish many novels, which could inadvertently turn the offering into a library substitute. But one shouldn’t celebrate the seemingly free library too soon, as Google has previously shortened return policies, like with Android apps, due to excessive use.
The purchased eBooks are available in ePub or PDF format and may or may not have DRM, depending on the publisher’s policy. This means the books can be read on almost all eBook readers (not on Kindles). Purchases are made through Google’s own payment system—Google Checkout. Incidentally, the Google eBook Store is not yet available in Austria.
Even though the German-speaking eBook market is not as advanced as the English-speaking one, Google’s entry into the market is still quite late. It is thus questionable whether Google can secure a significant market share here—especially since the offering currently doesn’t seem to be particularly good. The tech giant remains silent about the success of Google eBooks in other countries, but considering the market power of Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and others, it’s likely that success will be limited there as well. Therefore, it’s not surprising that there have been recurring rumors of Google launching its own eBook reader. However, the search engine company doesn’t seem to be in a hurry with this, as these rumors have remained just that so far.
