Google has doubled the number of publishers participating in its controversial book scanning project over the past year to 20,000, according to Reuters.
As far as the number of books scanned, the official total is still "more than a million," said Santiago de la Mora, head of book partnerships for Google in Europe, in an interview at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
The project launched in 2005, and Google has also been partnering with libraries to digitize their collections but with less success. Only two new libraries have signed on over the past year bringing the new total to 29.
While Google builds up its digital library and has recently pushed its brand in mobile phone business with its Android platform, there is apparently no intention to battle Amazon or Sony in the e-book reader market.
"We're promoting on line the sale of physical books. That's the offering. Having said that, we're always open to the evolutions of the marketplace. It's just a question of interest but clearly it's something we're following," he said. "But let's be clear on the record that Google's not going to launch an ereader or something like that."
