The most recent sign of Google's ongoing endeavors to expand beyond online advertising - and gain a foothold in e-commerce - is the company's Monday confirmation of its plans about building a "digital book ecosystem," which would enable publishers to sell digital editions of their books straight to consumers.

Working towards the launch of the program by this year-end, the Mountain View, California-based Google would be pushing deeper into the e-commerce arena, largely dominated by Amazon. com, followed by eBay and Wal-mart. com. The new endeavor would complement Google's ongoing attempts of bringing online over 7 million out-of-print and other books.

Google's "digital book ecosystem" would work towards allowing partner publishers to sell access to their titles. The company, which is working out revenue-sharing arrangements with publishers, is also looking at forming partnerships with other online retailers - including local bookstores - for providing on-the-spot online access to books.

Talking about Google's proposed venture, analyst Laura Martin of Soleil Securities Group said that with Google's core growth rate gradually on the downslide, the company is looking for the "next big growth driver."

Despite the Google e-books project having the potential to offer substantial competition to Amazon and other online booksellers, Amazon appears unaffected. Amazon spokeswoman Cinthia Portugal said: "We don't focus on other companies; we are focused on offering our customers the best possible reading experience."