Google Inc. will begin selling digital books as early as late June or July, a company representative said Tuesday, jumping into a battle that already involves Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Barnes & Noble Inc.
Chris Palma, Google's manager for strategic-partner development, announced the timetable at a panel on Google's plans sponsored by the Book Industry Study Group in New York. The event, held at Random House's Manhattan offices, was entitled: "The Book on Google: Is the Future of Publishing in the Cloud?"