DOJ suing Apple over ebooks.

[markbot]

The emails between the publishers are very very damning. They are going to lose.

"They agreed to terminate their agreements with Apple and refrain from limiting any retailer's ability to set e-book prices for two years"

That is sweetheart of a deal. How do you NOT take that if you are the publisher.

[johnnyb]

As regards Amazon "taking over"...
I think if Agency pricing falls (which I hope it will), the thing that changes is just that Apple will be forced to compete, for the first time ever in any field: they have dominated music, because they made online buying convenient, they are ok with their film business because they have simply based it upon the dominance of their music business (i.e. They make enough because they have such a large user base). In apps, they have an exclusive system, noc competition there, naturally.
With ebooks however, it's different. They are heavily reliant on moile devices, but: Amazon has established a mobile system that is well-suited to the task and convenient before Apple has arrived there (no second iPod), anyone remember Jobs saying that people are ading less and less anyway so it's no big deal...
Turns out, Amazon is moving enormous sums of money with their business so Apple has to join the game. And because they didn't want to compete (because you simply cannot convince people that a song, a film or, well, a book, is inherently better simply because it's from Apple), they tried their second major strategy (increasingly so in the past number of years): control.
And if they cannot innovate (on a big scale, they could start Mirasol etc but that does not give them any huge avantage now that they have started making people believe that LCDs are just fine, or better, which they are occasionally) or control anymore, they have two options left: drop out of the game (which would just be ridiculous given how they are currently promoting iBooks, as savior of learning) or, finally, compete on the price.

(granted, they could start throwing out apps at random again (control), but that has never led anywhere before, most people will not use iBooks exclusively, esp. not, when it's more expensive, among other factors such as a bigger Amazon tablet and all the other , so Kindle and Nook are going to stay on iOS)
(btw, written on an iPad 3 ;-))

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by johnnyb

they have two options left: drop out of the game (which would just be ridiculous given how they are currently promoting iBooks, as savior of learning) or, finally, compete on the price.

Or ignore the low margin mass market ebook market and focus on whizz-bang shiny interactive books, textbooks, magazines, etc...

[tubemonkey]

Nice piece in Forbes:

But for traditional publishers, e-books mean higher profits in a world where the trends in traditional publishing are all going in the wrong direction. For example, Digital Book World estimates that publishers make 10% profit margins on traditional books and 50% margins on e-books. And higher e-book sales may explain why Penguin and Simon and Schuster had flat 2011 revenues but higher profits.
~~~~~~~~~~

After all, Bezos is right that in theory there are only three players that are absolutely essential to keep the e-book industry going — authors, readers, and an electronic means of getting the author’s ideas into the readers’ minds. As more people buy e-book readers, and Amazon keeps prices on e-books below $10, the value proposition to consumers will be irresistible.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Nice piece in Forbes:

Thanks for that!

....Bezos achieved initial success by bypassing the book retailers, And his ultimate vision is a world in which authors contract with Amazon to write e-books that readers digest on their Kindles.

And while that would make selected authors and readers better off — since popular authors would end up with more cash and readers would pay less to read their work – the vision Bezos is pushing causes a world of hurt for book marketers, manufacturers, agents, retailers and their suppliers......

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Or ignore the low margin mass market ebook market and focus on whizz-bang shiny interactive books, textbooks, magazines, etc...

But with KF8 and ePub3 they won't be the only ones in that market as well...

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by johnnyb

But with KF8 and ePub3 they won't be the only ones in that market as well...

True, but Apple has been working double time on their iTunes U app, store and ecosystem. It's already has a massive catalog and is pretty well established.

[whitearrow]

Originally Posted by kacir

You forgot.
Lawyers for both sides rake in $1,000,000

Guess who will win this one?
Lawyers. regardless of the outcome.

Government lawyers get paid a salary. Their salary does not increase or decrease based on the outcome of any particular case.

Lawyers who represent private businesses receive whatever rate they negotiate with that client. Just like any other professional, and subject to ethics limitations.

Blaming "greedy lawyers" for a government-initiated antitrust case is pretty absurd.

[Wasgo]

So when does this settlement go into effect?

[whitearrow]

My big hope with pricing isn't that bestsellers will significantly drop, but that books available in cheaper paper formats won't have ebooks that cost more than the paper copies.

E.g., if there's a MMP for $7.99, the ebook should never cost more than $7.99. It would be nice if it was a couple of bucks less, but I'd be happy if they were just not more expensive than paper.

[sbroome]

Apple fanboys are weird with their "company of the people" outlook. The company never has been that and never will be *shrug*.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The thing is, if the price fixing 7 (including Apple) had priced eBooks reasonable, I don't see that this would have been an issue. But it is an issue because they significantly raised prices.

Raising prices was the trigger for the investigation.
Even now, the feds are trying to give the publishers room to manuever to marginalize Amazon. But the BPHs don't seem inclined to accept the gift.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Wasgo

So when does this settlement go into effect?

No sooner than 60 days, at latest word.
And that assumes that Scott Turow's objection filings get disposed of quickly.
I would put the over/under at six months.

[Wasgo]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

No sooner than 60 days, at latest word.
And that assumes that Scott Turow's objection filings get disposed of quickly.
I would put the over/under at six months.

Thanks. In my own self interest, I'm putting off buying any agency priced books until then.

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

The DoJ does not intend to hinder competition.

However, it's screamingly obvious to everyone in the industry that if Amazon is allowed to freely set prices, then they will undercut everyone and re-establish a monopoly on ebooks."

At which time or probably before then, the DOJ will promptly go after them and put a stop to it!

No business has been allowed to monopolize in decades, why do you insist on thinking that Amazon will be able to do so when no other big company including Microsoft has been able to pull it off?

One thing I'm pretty sure of, is that Jeff Bezos knows how to attract customers with the services Amazon offers and with excellent customer service which is a HUGE draw for people.

I seriously doubt he would then shoot himself in the wallet by biting the millions of hands that feed him not only for books but for everything else under the sun.

Again you under estimate consumers, if Amazon decided that since they are the biggest game in town to start raising ebook prices up the wazoo, they risk not only losing those ebook purchases, but all the other purchases those ebook buyers buy!