Jan 13, 2011 10:58 GMT  ·  By

Google has acquired eBook Technologies, a company with a very descriptive name. There aren't many details, but both Google and the acquired company confirmed the deal. eBook Technologies developed several products and services for digital books, including ebook readers and an online distribution platform.

"eBook Technologies, Inc. is 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 on emerging tablets, e-readers and other portable devices," a notice on the company's homepage reads.

There aren't any more details from eBook Technologies. Google confirmed the move, but would not expand on its scope.

"We are happy to welcome eBook Technologies’ team to Google. Together, we hope to deliver richer reading experiences on tablets, electronic readers and other portable devices," a Google spokesperson said.

Google has a deep interest in digital books. It's been scanning the world's books for years, though getting into trouble for it. While there are millions of public domain books offered for free in Google Books, the company finally launched the Google eBookstore last month, to offer users a device-agnostic ebook store.

The Google eBookstore is accessible on any device with a web browser, so it should work on any desktop platform or on any mobile device. This approach is somewhat different than that of its competitors which prefer to stick to one device.

Granted, the biggest player, Amazon, has been making the Kindle Store available on any device it can, via dedicated apps. After the eBookstore launched, Amazon has doubled down on efforts to launch a web-based version of the Kindle store and app.

However, there is a need for dedicated apps, especially on mobile devices and tablets, which are capable of taking advantage of what the hardware has to offer.

This is where eBook Technologies would come in as it seems that the focus will be on developing software for tablets, ereaders and similar devices. On the other hand, Google could have acquired the company for its talent alone and not for any of its technologies.