Pottermore e-books to reach Kindle as well as Google Books

It looks like Kindle users won't be left out in the (Harry Potter) cold after all. When the Pottermore website was announced earlier, author J.K. Rowling said that e-book versions would finally be available, but only through that site. That seemed to signal that Amazon.com wasn't going to get its hands on an e-book edition of the books, but it seems that there may be hope after all.

Earlier in the week, Google announced that when someone buys a Harry Potter e-book from Pottermore.com, they will be able to read the e-books via their Google Books library in the cloud.

Although there are plenty of apps that allow reading Google Books, unfortunately, the Kindle doesn't support the Google Books format. That might sounds dire for Kindle users in terms of reading the Potter e-books, but there is hope. According to a statement from Amazon.com, the company is “working closely with Pottermore to make sure Kindle customers will be able to buy and read J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books.”

That's good for e-book reader users, as despite the fact that Barnes & Noble's nook Color finally overtook the Kindle in Q1 of 2011, the Kindle has long held the title of the No. 1 e-book reader. The company now says it sells more e-books than printed books.

Amazon.com is expected to make a move toward regaining its No. 1 rank in e-book readers with the introduction of an Android tablet and two new e-ink Kindles in the fall.

Google also has somewhat of a coup. Its Google Checkout service has been chosen as “the preferred third party payment platform for all purchases made on Pottermore.com,” a major victory over rival PayPal. Google Checkout still hasn't made much of a dent in PayPal's dominance among payment systems, except perhaps for the use of Google Checkout for Android Market purchases.

Pottermore will launch to the public in October. The first million to register on the site on July 31 will receive Early Access.