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Apple, of course, can sell iBooks and take 30%...the same way that that B&N and Kindle do. However, the latter two can't take their 30%, give Apple *another* 30%, and still earn their 5% margin. Unless they mark their books up 43%, of course.
That's why they will be dropping out.
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@AndrewH , that 30 per cent applies to subscriptions at this point. We don't know as yet what the cut will be for ebooks-or even if there will be any cut at all. As I said earlier , that 70/30 publisher/retailer arrangement didn't come down on stone tablets from heaven. I can easily see an arrangment by which the division is renegotiated to say 60publisher/20bookseller/20 Apple. As to Apple not signalling this years in advance, things change in business and contractual arrangements change in response. Fifteen years ago Amazon didn't exist, Apple didn't make mobile devices, and Borders was the future of bookselling.