Word is going around that Google Editions, the search giant’s online book store is set to launch before the end of 2010, which means December. The store will apparently operate in a different manner from Apple’s iBooks and Amazon’s Kindle, allowing users to purchase books from Google or independent bookstores and tie them into a Google account, allowing them to read the books anywhere and on any device, instead of having to purchase from a single online store. Google Editions was originally expected to launch around June or July of 2010, but the launch was obviously pushed back and Google’s product management director stated that it will be launched by the end of 2010 in the US and in the first quarter of 2011 internationally as they didn’t want to release something that wasn’t thorough, due to the complexity of the project. No word on what kind of deal Google will offer to publishers or independent bookstores just yet.