Google’s Play Store is making a bigger push into selling audiobooks, the company announced Tuesday, putting it in more direct competition with Amazon-owned Audible.

This move is particularly important as both Google and Amazon continue pushing their smart speaker lines, the Home and Echo respectively. Right now, there’s no integration between the Google Home and Amazon’s Audible. As consumers decide which speaker to purchase, they may be swayed by which ever device gives them easier access to their audiobooks.

The company is rolling out a dedicated audiobook store and an app that will work with both Android and iOS. The Play Store already sells a small selection of audiobooks, but this update makes the selection much more comprehensive and easy to sort.

Google won’t offer a subscription pricing plan like Audible does. Audible’s cheapest subscription tier is one book a month for $14.95, which shaves as much as $10 off the price of a standalone audiobook. With Google, you can buy books only on a one-off basis.

Google launches the service with a handful of big discounts on titles like “Why Not Me?” by Mindy Kaling ($5.99 on Google versus $21 on Audible without a subscription) or “Lincoln in the Bardo” by George Saunders ($8.99 on Google versus $24.50 on Audible without a subscription).

While it will take a deep-dive after the discounts expire to get a full pricing comparison, it seems that Google is trying to appeal to customers who don’t read enough to want to buy into Audible’s subscription model.

Source: Tech CNBC
Google is battling Amazon with a dedicated audiobook store