What do you mean?
No publisher is 'forced' to go to the Apple store, therefore no publisher is 'forced' into the Agency Model.
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U.S. Department of Justice Sues Apple and Publishers over E-Book Pricing
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What do you mean?
No publisher is 'forced' to go to the Apple store, therefore no publisher is 'forced' into the Agency Model.
My money is on Apple winning this. They actually have the money and will to fight the DoJ. Most entities cave when the DoJ goes after them.
People with a modicum of shame or guilt, that's who cares.
I said we all buy used from time to time but we can't all buy only used. If the content creators don't get paid, they'll stop making content. I mean, really?
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It's very simple really.
Apple did not go into it to make millions, they want relevance and market share.
If they went into Books without the agency model...
1) Sell for $14.99 while Amazon sells for $9.99, get zero sales and market share.
2) Sell for $9.99 at a lost and lose their shirts.
3) Or hope and wait for publishers let the free market determine the price and maybe make a dent in Amazon's huge share.
All the above doesn't make them relevant with books like they need to be.
But forcing Amazon to price the books the exact same helps, you betcha!
Apple did not go into it to make millions, they want relevance and market share.
If they went into Books without the agency model...
1) Sell for $14.99 while Amazon sells for $9.99, get zero sales and market share.
2) Sell for $9.99 at a lost and lose their shirts.
3) Or hope and wait for publishers let the free market determine the price and maybe make a dent in Amazon's huge share.
All the above doesn't make them relevant with books like they need to be.
But forcing Amazon to price the books the exact same helps, you betcha!
I used to take the train to work so having a 350hp, 10mpg, turbocharged demon was fine sitting in the garage and awaiting the weekends. Now that I drive 60 miles a day getting 55mpg and being comfortable is more a priority now. The amazing thing is I don't miss my old car at all and am actually excited about purchasing a Plug In Hybrid.
Shame or guilt over companies making money? Really come on now. You act like Apple tucks you in at night and reads you a story.
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Did you look around for numbers? I found this revenue breakdown for Amazon -- from last summer (estimates for Q2 2011):
For media:
$1,616.30 for North America.
$1,825.00 for International.
For electronics and other:
$3,395.50 for North America.
$2,165.60 for International.
For "Other" (which include their storage/compute cloud resources):
$291.50 for North America.
$40.9 for International.
I get a total estimate of $9,334.80 for the quarter. Amazon's "Other" sales (including their storage/compute cloud resources) come in at 3.5% of the total. The lion's share of Amazon's sales -- over 95% -- is retail. Contrast that with Apple where only 4% of their sales is from their iTunes Store. That's why blindly comparing the lobbying efforts of the two companies is hardly an Apples-to-Apples comparison.
Samsung would force K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Target etc...to all sell their TVs at the same list price at Best Buy.
Overnight, no competition left because no stores can now sell TVs at a discount.
And in your analogy, it's not just Samsung but all the big TV manufacturers do this too. 5 of the 6 Big Publishers forced agency pricing on Amazon, B&N etc..
Amazon was selling large fields of books, well below cost, with the intent of running their competitors out of business.
Publishers spend a great deal of money and talent editing books. Some would say (including me) editing is the most important part of the writing process. Even more so, for new authors.
People make little money writing text books. The editing is much harder than fiction and they don't stay on the shelves long before they need to be updated.
Some would argue, publishers add more value than authors. Editing is very important. Even the best authors need editors. The difference is, the best authors pass the books around to their friends who are also successful writers.
Where do you get your numbers. People inside the industry have been telling me, Before Apple, Amazon was selling a very large percentage of their books below cost, with the intent to run all competition out of business. This has effectively stopped with Apple's move into the industry.
****
My largest concern is that, with the publishers being driven out of business, editing and marketing will become a thing of the past. The filters that insure the quality of published books will also become history. Get ready to read unimagined numbers of books "published" by twelve year old kids that are flunking English,
Some Random 12 year old said:
Prices were being dragged down artificially by Amazon. They had a monopoly on the ebook market. They prevented any one from being able to compete in the market by selling the ebooks below cost supplementing the price with other products. This limits the availability of the books because anyone who cannot afford to do this is run out of business. Like Walmart once there is no competition they can charge whatever they want. Less places to sell your product mean less sells and the only winner is Amazon. Publishers go away and then writers have less outlets then there are less books being released meaning a much smaller market.
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No, but Amazon was already setting the price of all books. The price was below cost making it impossible for even the Authors themselves to compete on their own websites. Crazy
An excellent summary. Should be mandatory reading for anyone commenting in this thread.
Simply stated, collusion to set prices is illegal, it's a violation of antitrust laws.
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That's what Microsoft figured. Bad idea. Very bad idea.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/11/apple-ebooks-idUSL2E8FB7S020120411
The Justice Department complaint cites an email from an executive for an unnamed publisher pointing out the need for the publishers to work together to convince Amazon to raise prices.
"We've always known that unless other publishers follow us, there's no chance of success in getting Amazon to change its pricing practices," the executive wrote.
"Without a critical mass behind us, Amazon won't 'negotiate,' so we need to be more confident of how our fellow publishers will react," the executive said in the email.
The Justice Department complaint cites an email from an executive for an unnamed publisher pointing out the need for the publishers to work together to convince Amazon to raise prices.
"We've always known that unless other publishers follow us, there's no chance of success in getting Amazon to change its pricing practices," the executive wrote.
"Without a critical mass behind us, Amazon won't 'negotiate,' so we need to be more confident of how our fellow publishers will react," the executive said in the email.
Of course every book needs an editor, in an ideal world every book gets one. In the real world somebody has to pay the editor. Either you make a selection of what you publish (and edit), or you publish also without editing.
The latter is much better. Granted, you will find lower quality titles getting published too, but that's a direct result of the barrier of entry being placed much lower, which is a very good thing.
No, that's not what I'm saying. I agree that these things need to be investigated, not saying they don't, but perhaps put it at number two on the list. Gas prices affect everyone.
Difference being that what Miscrosoft did was closer to Amazon's practices than Apples. Not charging for IE to drive other browser companies out of business. so like Amazon selling at a lose. I wonder how much this case will bring Amazon's practices to light and result in them being sued as well. I think they stand a much worse chance of winning than apple.
finally someone else that realizes that there is more to this than just the end price of the book and that publishers serve more of a purpose than one would be lead to believe.
In a perfect world, every book would get three editors. You would be surprised at the number of "Good" writers, that don't understand pacing.
How does having a 'loss leader' equate to giving something away for free or bundling browser software? Nothing.
Having a loss leader is normal (and legal) business practice from every store (virtual or B&M). Colluding to keep prices artificially high is illegal.
Selling vast portions of your inventory below cost, with the intent of running your competition out of business is also illegal. Just ask the people in the small towns where Wal-mart forced every local business to shut down. After the competition was eliminated, they closed down the local Wal-mart forcing towns people to drive 50 or more miles to the next Wal-mart. Amazon is attempting to do the same thing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing
Apparently hard to argue in the US, but I think it could be argued against Amazon.
Doesn't matter. Apple and the publishers pretty clearly colluded to set prices. It doesn't matter if this was done for some sort of "good cause" as they saw it, this is still illegal.
The point of the comparison is: Microsoft thought they were big enough and wealthy enough to sweat out the government. In a way, they succeeded -- by the time the settlement in their case was approved, the administration had changed to one that didn't care to enforce the antitrust laws. As a result, the final settlement was wimpy, but the damage had already been done. The Findings of Fact from the judge in the case cost Microsoft billions in settlements in private lawsuits, and the costs in distraction and reputation were immeasurable. Hubris can have a huge price tag.