Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
Er, bestsellers are most likely the bulk of Amazon's sales, both electronic and print . There is a reason Amazon caved so quickly against Macmillan.
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Two years ago.
Lots of things have changed since then. Even then the BPHs all together added up to well less than 50% of Amazon's business and that number has *not* gone up. (The number I saw at the time said their *print* share was barely 40%.)
More importantly, the real question is where do the bulk of their ebook *profits* come from. Amazon carrying BPH books is just matching the competition but unlike their competition, they can afford to sell all BPH books at cost and live off the rest of their business.
No matter how you slice it, Amazon (and Adobe) are the big winners here. Kobo and B&N probably will also come out ahead. Even Sony might benefit, if they ever fix their ebookstore.
The only assured losers here are the BPHs...
...and maybe Apple if they are forced into antitrust-compliance oversight at some point. Given that this is the *second* conspiracy Apple has gotten caught at in the last three months their penalties are not going to be limited to their iBooks operation, which is probably why they are still fighting.