Google has launched its ebook offering in the USA. The service, previously called Google Editions, has been renamed Google Ebooks.

Google Ebooks promotes a vision of cloud based storage of ebooks that allows the user to read a purchased book on any device with an internet connection. The platform allows synching of books across multiple devices.

The site offers downloadable apps for Android and Apple devices as well as B&N’s Nook and Sony’s Reader devices. For now, these apps are not available outside of the US (unless readers have US iTunes or other app store accounts).

It offers readers a range of free public domain and free view titles and a selection of new releases and in copyright works. The company claims to have some ’3 million free ebooks and hundreds of thousands of titles that are ready for purchase.’

The titles on offer are a mix of those scanned as part of Google’s digitization program and title submitted by publishers who are members of Google’s partner program.

For now, only US readers can buy New York Times Bestsellers and other recent paid titles, but those outside of the US have to the free and public domain titles.

Google aims to launch Google ebooks outside of the USA in the first quarter of 2011 though as with Apple’s iBookstore, this may mean that the UK and other territories get access to paid for titles on a rolling schedule while other territories have access to only the free titles.