Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Class-action Suit Filed Against Apple and 5 Book Publishers Over E-book Pricing

I am inclined to agree that this sounds a tad preposterous. This isn't some basic necessity like oil or rice. So an e-book is deemed overpriced. Then simply don't buy one. Otherwise, can I also sue Apple for selling their ipads at such a high markup? No, if I can't afford one, I simply don't buy one. :rolleyes:
 
BeauPaul said:
Yeah where are all the "green people" now? bitching about the price!
Click to expand...

For good reason. It costs a lot less money to sell a file delivered via the interwebs than to print a hard copy book and ship it. Consumers get none of the savings passed on, and companies get bigger profit margins and happier investors. Welcome to capitalism.
 
saving107 said:
Ok, I'll just drive down to my local borde.... oh, they closed down.
Ok, I'll just drive down to my local barns and no..., oh, they closed down as well.
Ok, I'll just drive down to my local mom & pop book sto..., oh, they were ironically closed down by Borders and B&N years ago.
Ok, e-book it is.
Click to expand...
Post of the Year
 
Capt Underpants said:
For good reason. It costs a lot less money to sell a file delivered via the interwebs than to print a hard copy book and ship it. Consumers get none of the savings passed on, and companies get bigger profit margins and happier investors. Welcome to capitalism.
Click to expand...

Yes welcome to America! you can't afford it too bad! Companies are not in business to give things to whiners for free!
 
The only thing that surprises me in discussions of price fixing is that no one mentions how there's almost zero variance in Apple product prices no matter where you shop.

Must be magic....
 
Peace said:
They did until Apple came in. This is why it looks like a shill lawsuit. i'm sure Amazon has lost a lot of market share and would like it back.
Click to expand...

Not so sure about loss of market share. You still can't buy ibooks from the Kindle. Also, the growing trend I have seen is to have an iPad for everything and the new cheaper Kindle and BN Reader strictly for reading.
 
Last edited:
The reason why digital costs more than paperback or hardcopy is because it last longer :D
 
Costs in physical book printing(there may be more, I'm not in this industry):
-cover design
-marketing
-paper
-ink
-machinery for printing
-storage
-distribution centers
-shipping
-book store markup
-author royalties

Cost for digital books:
-Apple's 30% cut.
-Author royalties

Why aren't these savings being passed on to the consumer when the consumer has bought the device and saved the publisher all this money? I will not ever pay $14.99 for an ebook. That's what I give audible for an audiobook!
 
I see Apple being named because they started the trend but I do not expect them to really have to pay anything or put at any real risk no matter the out come. The publishers on the other hand face some real risk.
 
And if Apple had not stepped in with the agency model, then Amazon would have continued to dump e-Books for cheap prices, got folks invested into the Kindle ecosystem, and then a couple years down the road they would have raised prices since they would be the only game in town.

End result, Amazon would have been sued for anti-competitive practices.

Either way a lawsuit.

All Apple did was give publishers the option to set their price. Once there was a competitor, Amazon could no longer dictate the terms for eBooks. However, I still think Amazon is selling a whole lot more eBooks than Apple is.
 
appleguy123 said:
Costs in physical book printing(there may be more, I'm not in this industry):
-cover design
-marketing
-paper
-ink
-machinery for printing
-storage
-distribution centers
-shipping
-book store markup
-author royalties

Cost for digital books:
-Apple's 30% cut.
-Author royalties

Why aren't these savings being passed on to the consumer when the consumer has bought the device and saved the publisher all this money? I will not ever pay $14.99 for an ebook. That's what I give audible for an audiobook!
Click to expand...

Shows your ignorance of the publishing world and the costs involved to get a book to market. I say that with respect.. I don't mean ignorance in a negative way other than to say you just don't understand what it takes. That's ok. Most don't.
 
I want to complain about all the conspiracies that have caused Gas prices to go up, causing vegetables to become very expensive too.

What's the problem with Apple wanting a 30% Cut? They are providing the mechanism to sell the product, with tons of expenses: NOC, Bandwidth, Store Front, Shopping Cart, Web presence, advertising, large customer base, etc.

Someone try to do all these alone to sell an eBook or App, and profit will be close to nothing.

samcraig said:
Shows your ignorance of the publishing world and the costs involved to get a book to market. I say that with respect.. I don't me ignorance in a negative way other than to say you just don't understand what it takes. That's ok. Most don't.
Click to expand...

Some people can't see beyond their noses... and whine about everything they don't understand.
Solution: Ignore them!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This I have mixed feelings about.

macUser2007 said:
This was truly one of the most evil things Apple did, not too long after Steve Jobs publicly proclaimed that "Nobody reads books anymore."
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Amazon didn't mention...

Before they were forced into the more sensible agency model, Amazon was keeping 70% and paying the publisher 30%. The big imprints probably had slightly better terms. This is about Amazon's profit margin.

That said, there is no reason for ebook prices to be as high as they are considering the reduced cost of production and distribution.
 
Rich Gibson said:
Same as his self-serving proclamation about the death of Blu-Ray.

Rich
Click to expand...

Actually , physical media is dying whether we like to admit it or not. doesn't matter whether its books , blu rays, or magazines... 10 years from now they will be a thing of the past, people under 30 aren't into paper anymore...
 
Headrush69 said:
How are these two things contradictory?
He didn't say people don't read, he said don't read books.
Click to expand...

No, he did not. Jobs was referring specifically to e-books.

Quote:

Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader will fail, Steve Jobs says, because Americans simply don’t read. From The New York Times:

“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said.
Click to expand...

And all those who so predictably jump to defend Apple, should stop for a minute to actually understand the issue.

Before the launch of the iPad, Apple did effectively colude with the major publishers, positioning the iPad as an ereader and making sure that nobody can sell titles for less than Apple.

... Apple was involved in the scheme. The complaint alleges that Apple believed that it needed to neutralize the Kindle when it entered the e-book market with its own e-reader, the iPad, and feared that one day the Kindle might challenge the iPad by digitally distributing other media like music and movies.

The complaint claims that the five publishing houses forced Amazon to abandon its discount pricing and adhere to a new agency model, in which publishers set prices. This would prevent retailers such as Amazon from offering lower prices on e-books.

Apple had already established such a model on its App store, taking 30 percent revenue on sales while the publishers receive 70 percent.

...

The complaint notes that Apple CEO Steve Jobs foreshadowed the simultaneous switch to agency pricing and the demise of discount pricing in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in early 2010. In the interview, he was asked why consumers would buy books through Apple at $14.99 while Amazon was selling the same book for $9.99. “The prices will be the same,” he stated.
Click to expand...
 
We are still free to shop around!

Capt Underpants said:
I do think it's a bit ridiculous when a kindle eBook is more expensive than the same hard copy book on Amazon.
Click to expand...

This at times looks bad but then again I can go to my local Barnes and Noble any day of the week and find hardcover books at ridiculously low prices. Prices far below what I would have paid for the books a year or two ago when new on the market. Not to mention that Barnes and Noble isn't shy at all about charging big bucks for works long our of copyright that I can get free for any reader.
 
Highly incomplete.

appleguy123 said:
Costs in physical book printing(there may be more, I'm not in this industry):
-cover design
-marketing
-paper
-ink
-machinery for printing
-storage
-distribution centers
-shipping
-book store markup
-author royalties

Cost for digital books:
-Apple's 30% cut.
-Author royalties

Why aren't these savings being passed on to the consumer when the consumer has bought the device and saved the publisher all this money? I will not ever pay $14.99 for an ebook. That's what I give audible for an audiobook!
Click to expand...

Don't forget:
All the costs associated with printing (if book is available in both formats)
re-layout of design.
New artwork
Cover design
Increased network utilization

But that is not the point. Again, people look at the raw cost of production and make the simple minded assumption is that is what drives value. That is anything but true. Value is based on the actual words in the book. The ordering and combination of the words actually builds and creates value. You then set a price for that value. The cost of re-production (in any format) is really inconsequential.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back