Menlo Park (ip-192.com): Read up – Google Editions are coming to a PC near you! Google promises that its version of eBooks will be a "buy anywhere, read anywhere" service that allows users to download eBooks to computers, eBook readers, and mobile devices. Since the content is stored in a cloud library, users can change devices at will and read on where they left. Purchases will be linked to a Google account to allow universal access and 
non-restrictive copying.
Google says that Editions will have about half a million eBooks available by summer 2010. While competitors like Apple, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble secure eBooks through digital rights management software, all that's needed for Google Editions is a full Web browser and a Google account.
Since purchased books are stored in the cloud, Google has the ability to distribute content in a variety of formats, including new formats that might not be available at the time of purchase. Users will be able to buy books directly from Google or third party vendors, even independent retailers. It is not clear if publishers will have the freedom to set the price for books they sell, since news reports on the topic are conflicting.
Google already has a vast library of more than 12 million books scanned to its digital database. While focusing on books in the public domain that contain books out of copyright, Google’s efforts have led to intense discussions with authors, publishers, and retailers and culminated in law-suits.
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[...] New York (ip-192.com): As competition heats up, Borders is jumping into the eReader market with the announcement of Kobo. With a price tag of $150, Kobo is significantly cheaper as Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook, which currently sell for about $260. Borders will also compete with Google Editions, a “buy anywhere, read anywhere” service that is device independent and displays content stored in the cloud on mobile devices, netbooks and computers (ip-192.com reported here). [...]