NYT: "Amazon Threatens Publishers as Apple Looms"

[DawnFalcon]

Won't matter. The terms being forced through by Apple mean you'll be paying the same regardless. Amazon's model will at least give the small fry breathing room.

[Teddman]

I've posted before here about the pro-iPad editorial bent of the NY Times, which was a featured periodical in the iPad's debut press conference and a publication that stands to gain much if the iPad's newspaper subscription service takes off.

Check out the provocative headline:

"Amazon Threatens Publishers as Apple Looms"

Whoa, what are they threatening for?

Amazon has agreed in principle that the major publishers would be able to set prices in its Kindle store as well. But it is also demanding that they lock into three-year contracts and guarantee that no other competitor will get lower prices or better terms.

Apple, for its part, is requiring that publishers not permit other retailers to sell any e-books for less than what is listed in the iBookstore.

Oh, turns out that they just want the same deal Apple is getting. HOW DARE THEY!??

[charleski]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Won't matter. The terms being forced through by Apple mean you'll be paying the same regardless.

It will matter.

We all pay the price for those who would trade short-term personal gains for long-term general losses. This is why Amazon has been so destructive to the ebook market.

If you want to vote with your wallet, then don't buy from Amazon or Apple. Take away their market share, which is what they really prize. We need to get back to a state in which retailers can't dominate and distort the market to further their own interests.

[Teddman]

Here's another take on this article:

NYT Exposes Amazon's Fiendish Plot to Sell Books for Less Money

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by charleski

It will matter.

We all pay the price for those who would trade short-term personal gains for long-term general losses. This is why Amazon has been so destructive to the ebook market.

Destructive? Oh, you mean that they're behaving like retailers do with the vast majority of products. If you want to vote with your wallet, act against the people upsetting the apple cart (snarf snarf), Apple and the major publishers. Retailers, as opposed to companies locked into a model where they are mere conduits, are not the problem, and never have been.

Apple, with their commitment to destroying the retailer model? Yea, that is a problem. Shielding book prices from market forces, as you are effectively advocating, is a terrible idea. (Also, bluntly, it screws authors over badly)

Amazon (while I won't buy a Kindle or pay their contingency fees, personally) have done a lot to build the ebook market. Apple are trying to tear it down. The long term doesn't matter when in the short term, the major beneficiary of Apple's action is going to be the darknet. And the conduit model means there will be NO realistic feedback into book pricing because of it - publishers will whine about it and raise prices to try to compensate, pushing up the darknet market share further...

[clockworkzombie]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Go back and read the history of the robber barons of the late 19th century. You're watching a sequel.....

Try The Myth of the Robber Barons by Burton W. Folsom.

A superb book. If we were lucky it would be a sequel.

[CleverClothe]

Originally Posted by clockworkzombie

Try The Myth of the Robber Barons by Burton W. Folsom.

A superb book. If we were lucky it would be a sequel.

This is wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to begin. It literally took 10 minutes for my brain to recover from the shock. Since I have limited time on this wonderful planet, I shall have to satisfy myself with a short reply.

You can ignore the welfare of everyone but yourself, but that does not change reality.

[JSWolf]

Amazon.com has threatened to stop directly selling the books of some publishers online unless they agree to a detailed list of concessions regarding the sale of electronic books, according to two industry executives with direct knowledge the discussions.

This makes me so happy I have a reader that's not tied into Amazon. Granted, knowing how to strip DRM and convert means even a Kindle then is not tied into Amazon. But a lot of people are going to be tied into Amazon and this is not going to help.

[clockworkzombie]

Originally Posted by CleverClothe

This is wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to begin. It literally took 10 minutes for my brain to recover from the shock. Since I have limited time on this wonderful planet, I shall have to satisfy myself with a short reply.

You can ignore the welfare of everyone but yourself, but that does not change reality.

I may have loaned my book to someone as I cannot find it. If you read this book you will see what I an angling at.

The so called robber barons competed in the marketplace without government aid and often against monopolies.

Rockefeller made the price of lamp oil so cheap that everybody could afford to read and educate themselves at night time.

Rockefeller was a man who abhorred waste and he attempted to make everything run efficiently, for example he found a way to make the cans of kerosine with 39 drops of solder not 40, all these savings he passed on to the consumer and if you are looking at people helping others Rockefeller funded the cure for yellow fever, built schools to teach disadvantaged children and tithed 10 percent of his income.

Vanderbuilt ran ferries in direct competition with a government mandated monopoly, at one point he dropped the fare price to zero and made money selling food on the boats as they made their journey, he invented the hot potato chip for sale on these ferries.


Perhaps you can spend your limited time on this planet enjoying the fruits of their labour and not being shocked by the idea that competition in the marketplace is a good thing.

edited for wrong word.