Google's e-book store said to be in final stages

Google is said to be planning the release of its Editions e-book service for sometime this summer.

The Wall Street Journal quoted Google manager for strategic development Chris Palma in reporting that the company would be setting the Editions service live as soon as late June.

The Editions project has been touted by Google as the company's biggest effort yet to enter the e-book retail market. The project will pit Google head to head against competing services from Barnes and Noble, Amazon and, most recently, Apple Inc.

First outlined by Google in October of last year, Editions is touting itself as a 'platform agnostic' service that runs on any device. While some competing services are limited to a small range of devices or operating systems, Google has promised that Additions will run on any device with a compatible browser.

Following in the steps of other eBook services, Google will allow publishers to set the prices of titles and then take a fixed percentage of sales revenues.