UPDATE 4-Google sparks e-books fight with Kindle

* Google to sell e-books for any device with Web browser

* Top lawyer confident of U.S. legal settlement success (Adds Google comment, analyst comment)

By Georgina Prodhan

FRANKFURT, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Google (GOOG.O) plans to launch an online store to deliver electronic books to any device with a Web browser, threatening to upset a burgeoning market for dedicated e-readers dominated by Amazon's (AMZN.O) Kindle.

The Web search giant said on Thursday it would launch Google Editions in the first half of next year, initially offering about half a million e-books in partnership with publishers with whom it already cooperates, where they have digital rights.

Readers will be able to buy e-books either from Google directly or from other online stores such as Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com (BKS.N). Google will host the e-books and make them searchable.

Google spokeswoman Jennie Johnson said many of the details of the project, including which online retailers would participate and whether the digital books would be viewable on e-readers like the Amazon Kindle, have yet to be determined.

Google also ruled out making the device itself.

"We're not focused on a dedicated e-reader or device of any kind," Tom Turvey, Google's director of strategic partnerships, told journalists at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Technology research firm Forrester expects about 3 million e-readers to be sold in the United States this year, from a previous base of about 1 million, helped by lower prices, more content and better distribution. [ID:nN06442999]

Google Editions will allow Google to make money for the first time out of one of its book ventures -- which also include a controversial project to scan and index tens of millions of books through partnerships with libraries.

Turvey said Google would give publishers 63 percent of revenues and keep 37 percent for itself where it sold e-books directly to consumers. Google already partners with publishers to make physical books searchable and available for sale.

In cases where e-books were bought through other online retailers, publishers would get 45 percent and most of the remaining 55 percent would go to the retailer, with a small share for Google, he said.

Kaufman Brothers analyst Aaron Kessler said it was not surprising that Google plans to sell electronic books, but the near term revenue potential may not be as high as other opportunities such as display and mobile advertising.

COMPETITION FOR AMAZON

Forrester media analyst Sarah Rotman Epps said Google would not necessarily steal market share from Amazon, although it would strengthen the position of others who support open standards usable across a range of devices, such as Sony's.