Google has confirmed reports that it is to begin selling e-books to web users later this year.

The New York Times reported on May 31st that Google was in talks with publishers at the BookExpo event in New York last week to sell digital versions of their latest book releases directly to consumers.

In a statement yesterday (June 1st), Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker said that the search engine does indeed hope to begin selling e-books from its publisher partners by the end of 2009.

He commented: "We want to build and support a digital book ecosystem to allow our partner publishers to make their books available for purchase from any web-enabled device."

Amazon, with its Kindle reader and e-books, is Google's biggest competition in the US market.

According to the New York Times, publishers choosing to sell e-books through Google would be able to suggest prices, although the search engine would ultimately set the final price.

Currently, Amazon charges $9.99 (£6) for most e-book versions of new books, compared with a typical hardback price of $26.

Google's plans represent the first significant step into the direct selling side of the e-commerce sector for the search engine.

It currently offers a shopping search engine to allow users to look for and compare products across the web, as well as a checkout facility for e-commerce merchants.