Search outfit Google plans to begin selling electronic versions of new books online this year, and says it will take on market leader Amazon.

A Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker said in a statement he wanted to build and support “a digital book ecosystem” to allow “partner publishers” to make their books available for purchase from any Web-enabled device.

We put the statement into our “management speak translater” and worked out that it means that Google is signing up writes and publishers to distribute books onto web browsers. This will be a lot different from Amazon which pushes its books onto epaper, which make it easier to read.

However publishers, particularly newspapers, are likely to be in favour of the idea because it gives them a secure way of distributing books and newspapers that are 'off the internet' home page system.

This allows publishers to set retail prices, unlike Amazon, which lets publishers set wholesale prices and then sets its own prices for consumers.