This I have mixed feelings about.
This was truly one of the most evil things Apple did, not too long after Steve Jobs publicly proclaimed that "Nobody reads books anymore."
I'm not sure how it could be considered evil on Apples part considering that is how they handle their other stores. Especially if all Apple does is takes a 30% cut. In reality the publishers have the option to compete aggressively on price.
Until he realized that he can ride to higher profits on the burgeoning e-book sales, that is.
Ah but you make an assumption that Apple has been extremely successful in the e-book business.
I hope the suit wins. It will be better for all consumers.
Ah no, there is no way you can say that is a certainty. From thee stand point of publishing the big houses still have the huge problem of actually making money on everything they publish. It is a mistake to believe that all books make a profit for the publishers, without heavy profits from the hot sellers many a publishing company would not exist.
Now I'm not claiming the approach here is perfect. It is pretty clear hat may E-Books are grossly over priced, but even then there will be may not making money at all. Ultimately the publishers need competition from firms with out the legacy problems associated with paper.
In any event you need to look at this from the standpoint of a author. Who will you want to contract with to publish your efforts, a discounter or somebody that can offer real money for each book published? Frankly this is no different than the music industry which has suffered greatly in recent years, still bands sign with the labels they think will best be able to make them money.
Of course both industries now have a new reality, that is the ease of self publication. This is probably the best course of action for anything that is out of the ordinary. Even then people will want to make money on their self published efforts, at least with Apple approach they get the freedom to assign what they believe is a fair price.
