The timing is surely not coincidental. Next Monday, Amazon looks set to unveil the second version of the Kindle. So today, Google came up with a version of its Book Search that works on mobile handsets.

“Book Search” is a bit of a misnomer: it’s actually shaping up to be more of a “Book Read”. With the mobile service, Google says you can access the full text of 1.5m out-of-copyright books on your handset . And lest there be any doubt, it had this to say about its long-term ambition:

“Ultimately, we envision a future where people across the globe can search, discover and access the world’s books from any device.” [via blogs.ft.com]