Google Editions "Open-Ecosystem"

Chris Dawson writing on ZDNet: "Google Editions has been on my radar for a while now, primarily for its potential applications to educational technology. After all, while the Kindle and Sony Reader were great tools for bookworms, they were hardly the sort of devices that could bring the next generation of interactive books to students with their gray-scale low-resolution screens. Besides, the iPad was just around the corner, right? Google’s distribution model seemed a perfect fit for web-centric tablets like the iPad and any other smartphone or computer to which users happened to have access. For those of you not familiar with Google Editions, this will be Google’s entry into the ebook marketplace. Ultimately, it will probably include millions of scanned titles from their controversial Books project, but until the legal wrangling over Books is wrapped up, Editions will feature both Google’s own Amazon-style store as well as partner sales channels for small distributors and bookstores when it launches this summer. ..."