Unveiled yesterday at a Google conference in the United States, Kindle for Web will allow authors to sell their e-books directly from their websites, earning them referral fees through Amazon's Associates Program.
Independent booksellers will also have the opportunity to sell Amazon e-books from their own retail websites. Readers can also share samples via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Amazon.co.uk said it did not comment on future plans so would not discuss when a UK launch is likely. However, Google will launch its Google e-books service in the UK and continental Europe early next year so Amazon could follow suit.
Russ Grandinetti, Kindle Content vice-president, said: "Kindle for the Web makes it possible for bookstores, authors, retailers, bloggers or other website owners to offer Kindle books on their websites and earn affiliate fees for doing so.
"Anyone with access to a web browser can discover the seamless and consistent experience that comes with Kindle books. Kindle books can be read on the $139 third-generation Kindle device with new high-contrast Pearl e-Ink, on iPads, iPod touches, iPhones, Macs, PCs, BlackBerrys and
Android-based devices. And now, anywhere you have a web browser.
"Your reading library, last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights are always available to you no matter where you bought your Kindle books or how you choose to read them."
Amazon already has a number of apps allowing readers to sync their e-books across a number of different devices.
The announcement comes a day after Google's launch of its own cloud-based e-book service. Technology blog Electric Pig noted "the cloud is the new frontline in the war for book sales".
And in The Independent:
Publishers welcome Google eBooks
By Nick Clark -Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Richard Mollet, the chief executive of the Publishers Association, said: "The ebook market is developing fast and with companies like Google coming in, there should be positive benefits for customers and publishers. Another player coming into the market should have a positive effect."
Google announced the launch of eBooks in the US on Monday night. The UK launch is expected imminently. Google eBooks, previously known as Google Editions, is the first "media in the cloud" provider. Customers can buy an ebook and read it on any device through Google's Web Reader. It can work on computers, Android and Apple devices and e-readers, although not Amazon's Kindle. It will offer more than three million titles, with "hundreds of thousands" available for sale.
Allen Weiner, an analyst at Gartner, said Google's move into digital publishing "is a big deal. On first look there is the significant impact on rivals". James McQuivey at Forrester Research said Google's service would not be able to compete against Amazon, but could take on other digital book stores, such as Barnes & Noble.
He added that the move would pave the way for ad-supported publishing, adding: "It will happen."
Mr McQuivey said that the changing economics of the market mean publishers will no longer force book buyers to shoulder the entire cost of a book but "instead can extract value from the reader".
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