SAN FRANCISCO — Google is making the leap from digital librarian to merchant in a challenge to Amazon and its Kindle electronic reader. The long-awaited Internet bookstore, which opened Monday in the U.S., draws upon a portion of the 15 million printed books that Google has scanned into its computers during the past six years.
About 4,000 publishers, including Simon & Schuster, Random House and Penguin, are also allowing Google to carry many of their recently released books in the new store. They can be read on any Web browser, Google said.
Millions more out-of-print titles will appear in Google’s store, called eBooks, if the company can gain federal court approval of a proposed class-action settlement with U.S. publishers and authors. The Associated Press
