Google and Chinese search engine Baidu are racing each other to set up an online depository of books, reports Reuters. Baidu is forming relationships with universities and libraries — the Peking University Library in Beijing is mentioned, while Google is “co-operating with almost 20 local publishing houses”. The two aren’t the first to market (there are others, like Dushu) but between them they “command three-quarters of the country’s online market” (I’m pretty sure that refers to search). The eventual goal is to get people to pay to read the online versions of books, with the revenues shared between the operators of the book site and the content providers. This would give the search giants another revenue stream and lessen their reliance on advertising.
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