Google buys eBook Technologies

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"We are happy to welcome eBook Technologies' team to Google," a Google spokeswoman said in a statement.

"Together, we hope to deliver richer reading experiences on tablets, electronic readers and other portable devices," she said.

In a statement on the company website, eBook Technologies said it was "excited to announce that we have been acquired by Google.

"Working together with Google will further our commitment to providing a first-class reading experience," said eBook Technologies, which offers e-book readers and an e-reading platform.

With the opening of Google eBookstore in the United States last month, the Internet search giant jumped into the booming e-book market long dominated by Kindle-maker Amazon.

Google eBookstore features the Mountain View, California-based company's massive library of digitized works online at books.google.com.

Hundreds of thousands of digital books from leading publishers such as Macmillan, Random House and Simon & Schuster will be for sale in the eBookstore, which Google said will expand internationally next year.

Digital books sold through the eBookstore can be read on the Sony Reader, the "Nook" from Barnes & Noble and other dedicated e-readers but not on the popular Kindle from Amazon.

US spending on e-books is expected to total 966 million dollars this year, up from 301 million dollars last year, and to reach 2.81 billion dollars in 2015, according to market research firm Forrester.

(c) 2011 AFP