Amazon losing the e-book pricing battle: Will content trump distribution?

[kjk]

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=30489

Add it up and publishing houses want a “rational market” according to them. This rational market is the same one that music companies wanted—and lost to Apple’s pricing model. Content companies learned from that and don’t want Amazon to make $9.99 the e-book template.

Is it different this time? Probably not, Amazon’s distribution power may have taken a hit, but it’s just a matter of time before digital content starts dictating time to market and book publishers have to speed up their publishing models. Vinnie Mirchandani, who is publishing a book, is stunned by how long it takes to bring a completed product to market. The book supply chain is a mess. Content companies can fight all they want to preserve their current models—and maybe even notch a few victories—but their ways of doing business will be disrupted by new distribution vehicles in the end.