http://books.google.com/ebooks
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/discover-more-than-3-million-google.html

"We designed Google eBooks to be open. Many devices are compatible with Google eBooks—everything from laptops to netbooks to tablets to smartphones to e-readers. With the new Google eBooks Web Reader, you can buy, store and read Google eBooks in the cloud. That means you can access your ebooks like you would messages in Gmail or photos in Picasa—using a free, password-protected Google account with unlimited ebooks storage."

Google's eBook store is now available in the U.S. but you can use the web reader to read free books worldwide.

I was expecting the web reader to have a fancier interface just like the one Google used on http://www.20thingsilearned.com/ (at least in the supported browsers)

Tried to get this for my iPad but the iOS app isn't available for Germany. I can get the Android app though (using a US proxy, not sure if it would work without).

You probably already answered my question Philip Lessen, but is the app on the Android market yet? And if so, can I directly buy books from the app and transfer them to my Google e-books account?

Eric, yes the app is in the market, just search for Google Ebooks. It's free.