IRiver Story HD tablet will ship with Google eBooks software

Google has confirmed that its eBooks software and retail service will ship with the iRiver Story HD e-book reader tablet later this month.

The company said that the iRiver tablet will be the first to offer integrated support for the Google eBooks reader tools and retail service. Users will be able to browse, purchase and buy titles from the Google store via the iRiver HD's Wi-Fi connection.

The Story HD tablet was announced at the 2011 CES conference and is due to launch on 17 July.

The device is being touted for its high-quality 6in screen, which sports a 1,024x768 black and white resolution, allowing better text and image quality as well as faster page turns.

The Wi-Fi integration will be a first for the Google platform. Currently, users must connect to the service through a PC and transfer purchased titles via a wired connection.

"Manufacturers like iRiver can use Google Books APIs and services to connect their devices to the full Google eBooks catalogue for out-of-the-box access to a complete e-book store," wrote Google Books product manager Pratip Banerji in a company blog post.

"You can also store your personal e-books library in the cloud, picking up where you left off in any e-book you're reading as you move from laptop to smartphone to e-reader to tablet."

Google opened its eBooks service in December last year following a tumultuous period in the book publishing space.

For years the company fought with publishing groups and anti-trust officials over the right to digitise hundreds of thousands of titles as part of its Book Search service.