If you are one to listen to audiobooks, chances are that you have probably purchased it from Audible. As of present, it looks as if Google will commence the sale of audiobooks through its Play store. There are reports that have reached from our sources saying that the company has started advertising audiobooks, and that a user’s first purchase of an audiobook will be 50 percent off.
The hub isn’t accessible at the moment, and our sources say that there is no indication of the time period that the store will go live but it seems that the company is doing some background work for the creation of an audiobook store. References were found with regards to Audiobooks in an APK teardown of the Google Play app back in November 2017, and also, an APK teardown was also conducted for some of the latest updates to the Google Play Books app, and a code was found for a variety of new features, including audiobooks. The code points to audiobooks in the store, and that the app will allow users the opportunity to navigate the chapters using chapter titles (Audible’s app allows for similar navigation but only by chapter numbers) and furthermore, the app will allow users to keep track of their progress on numerous devices. The teardown also points to Google Cast functionality.
If it happens, Google’s move into the audiobook market could be somewhat significant because it would challenge Amazon’s domination of the market. Now, while there are a lot of retailers out there, such as Audiobooks.com or Libro.fm, Audible is the leading retailer, and has enjoyed a certain kind of surge in popularity in the format. In conclusion, as sales of audiobooks have exploded in current years, a dedicated front for a store would give Google a foot in the door to capture some of those sales inside its own digital ecosystem.
