• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, January 13, 2011

A message on the eBook Technologies' Web site Thursday announced that the company has become part of the Google family. The technology and assets will go toward improving the reading experience on emerging tablets, ereaders and other portable devices, the notice reads.

Garth Conboy, co-founder and president of eBook Technologies, a technology licensing firm in the eBook space, also serves as chairman of the board on the International Digital Publishing Forum, which should provide a clear indication of Google's ebook roadmap.

eBook Technologies released the first commercial ebook in 1998. The company has a hand in electronic publishing as well as content acquisition, conversion, wholesaling, retailing, digital rights management and distribution.

Google launched the digital bookselling platform Google eBooks in December after a legal battle about book scanning and royalties. Google TV owners can access the content through their television or log on to any computer or Android running device to download and read.

Google has since taken down the content on the site, but CNet.com points to cache images of the site. Information tells us that the "platform consists of four parts: electronic reading devices (eBook devices) plus their associated UI firmware technology, the "Online Bookshelf," an Internet-based content sales and delivery system (the eBookstore), and eBook content conversion and publication tools."