According to BBC News, Google is considering creating an online digital bookshop, that would integrate with the existing Google Book Search. Book Search (formerly known as Google Print) has been very controversial, with many publishers starting class actions against Google in the US. This is a potentially very shrewd move, with the advent of devices such as Sony Reader using the E-ink technology developed by MIT. Providing the equivalent of iTunes or Napster for books could both give the technology a boost and create another growth area for Google to satisfy its shareholders, although Sony is already providing such a service.
In order to make it happen, Google would have to go on a charm offensive to persuade the publishers it has angered to cooperate with this idea, as copyright agreements would have to be signed before any store could start operating.
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