Google’s ebook store launches in US

Google’s been working on its ebook store for what feels like eons, but it’s finally here, at least if you’re a US customer. Canadians will find the store available but its shelves empty of anything that wasn’t already available in Google’s free books area. It’s a little odd being able to click around an empty online store. to tell you the truth.

The helpful and cute video Google made for the service actually has one thing wrong: you don’t need an internet connection to read, necessarily. A large amount of books are available in epub format, which are downloadable through Adobe Digital Editions and can be used on Nooks, Sonys, and other epub readers.

The video seems odd for another reason: they mention that there are digital hubs for buying and reading books. There are, of course. Kobo, Apple, Amazon, Sony, and Barnes & Noble all have pretty robust stores that all work roughly the same way. But Google suggests that buying books from Google will solve this issue of fragmentation. But I don’t see how. Isn’t the Google ebook store just another store? Unless I can import my Kindle, Sony, and Kobo books and read them through Google’s service, how is it a solution to this problem?