Google eBooks
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Google Play Books on Android Nougat
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| Initial release | December 6, 2010 (as Google eBooks) | ||||
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| Development status | Active | ||||
| Platform | Android, iOS, Chrome, web | ||||
| Size | 11.19 MB (Android) 22.4 MB (iOS) |
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| Type | Digital distribution | ||||
| Website | play |
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| Android | 3.12.13 / February 16, 2017 |
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| iOS | 3.0.2 / November 4, 2016 |
| Pricing model | Varies by country |
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| Format | EPUB, PDF |
| Restrictions | Adobe DRM scheme |
| Preview | Free chapters from every book |
| Availability | 65 countries |
| Website | play |
Google Play Books (formerly Google eBooks) is an ebook digital distribution service operated by Google. Users can purchase and download ebooks from Google Play, which offers over five million titles, with Google claiming it to be the "largest ebooks collection in the world". Books can be read on a dedicated Books section on the Google Play website, through the use of a mobile app available for Android and iOS, and through a Google Chrome web browser app. Users may also upload up to 1,000 ebooks in the PDF or EPUB file formats. Google Play Books is available in 64 countries.
Google Play Books was launched in December 2010, with a reseller program letting independent booksellers sell Google ebooks on their websites for a cut of sales. It also launched an affiliate program in June 2011, allowing website owners to earn a commision by referring sales to the then-named Google eBookstore. However, the reseller program ended in April 2012, with Google stating that it had "not gained the traction that we hoped it would" and "not met the needs of many readers or booksellers". The affiliate program closed for new signups in February 2012, with Google announcing that it would scale down the initiative, making it private and invitation-only.
The mobile Android app has seen several significant updates since its introduction, including different reading modes with color contrasts, support for text highlighting and note-taking, a zoomed-out view with easy page sliding in an effort to improve reading experiences for books not read cover-to-cover, a vertical scrolling mode for comic books, a "Night Light" feature that gradually filters blue light to reduce eye strain after sunset, and using machine learning imaging technologies to expand speech bubbles in comics.
The Google eBookstore was launched on December 6, 2010, with more than three million titles available, making it the "largest ebooks collection in the world". At the time of launch, the service was partnered with 100 independent booksellers, while the number of publishers was 5,000. This increased to 250 independent booksellers and 7,000 publishers in May 2011, along with three million free Google eBooks available in the United States, up from two million at launch. The service was codenamed Google Editions, the name under which it was widely assumed that the service would be launched. Google Books director Dan Clancy had talked about Google's vision to open an ebookstore for in-print books in an interview back in July 2009. Then-named TechHive reported in October 2009 that the service would be launched in the first half of 2010, before a Google employee told the media in May that the launch would be in June or July. The actual launch, however, took place in December.
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