By Google Play Books gets better by the day, it seems, and now Google’s introduced even more functionality. Those of you who just can’t wait to throw your money at your favorite author before their novel is released can now do so. Google has announced the ability to pre-order books within the Play Store.
It’s straight forward, really: you buy the book like you would any other book or Play Store item, except you can’t access it until release date. We’re not sure how much value, if any, this adds to a particular user’s purchasing experience because we imagine there won’t be any sellout scenarios — it’s digital, after all.
But no matter: the functionality is there if you want it. Use it as a nice gesture toward an author you really love, or just pay a book off ahead of time so you won’t have to worry about digging into your wallet the day it launches.
I’m not quite sure if there is any pre-loading functionality as there are no books I’m personally willing to pre-order right now, but that would be a great incentive to dishing money out early. Who really wants to sit there and wait on a download to finish when you could be reading your heart out? Exactly. Well, if you find it to be a useful tool you can give it a shot by pre-ordering some of these upcoming titles.
[via Twitter]
Yes, but can you pre-order future apps?
Why would you want to pre order apps? That means you get no type of refund window and if the app sucks(which most do) you will then be stuck with it. I see no need(or reason) to preorder apps.
I probably should have added a smilie at the end to say I was kidding about the whole thing.
Too bad you cant (couldnt) pre-order things like the Nexus 4.
One example of where this would be handy was all of the people who would line up for the Harry Potter books. Instead of waiting in a line till midnight it could automatically be downloaded to your google books.
After my experience with pre-ordering my Nexus 7, I will NEVER pre order anything from Google or their playstore. I learned the hard way, as all Nexus 4 owners did.
Are they going to run out of MP3s?..
Why would you pre-order a digital product? What am I missing?
Only thing that would make it worthwhile is an advance download and/or pre-order bonuses. But yes, without any of those incentives then this seems a tad silly.
You don’t have to remember to order it on the release date. If there is a book you know you want, you “pre-buy” it, and when it is released, it will automatically appear on your device.
It is not a great feature, but it is convenient. A “notify upon release” button would be just about as useful for the customer, but obviously less profitable for google.
Why would you pre-order an e-book? They can’t run out…
Useless unless there are pre-order bonuses, like free copies of a prior title from the same author or something. Otherwise, as other people have stated, what’s the point?
Oh. How about allowing Nexus pre sales next time around before launch and avoid disappointing Android fans?