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Just because you build a better mouse trap does not mean that anyone will buy it. Amazon's current place in the market has a lot to do with recognition and ease of use. They don't have to have all of the big name publishers willing to play ball if no one is willing to leave Amazon just to try out a new, and untried, multi-publisher backed web site. Most publishers currently have their own web sites which sell ebooks, but not too many folks visit them because it is easier and more comfortable to go through the sites that are already familiar.
I could make a device that slices bread, does your taxes, and plays soothing music while massaging you, but if it is too much of a change from what is familiar or not marketed well enough it will fail to sell. Folks like to stick with what they know.
I am not saying that Amazon will not fail to lose a significant portion of the ebook market if publishers decide to shut them out, but I just don't see that happening. Publishers tend to be careful and timid when it comes to change. Opening a multi-publisher backed ebook store while snubbing their main distributor is a pretty bold move. I seriously doubt that the corporate publishers have the chutzpah to jump into that just yet.
We have all seen distributors fail recently. Fictionwise, once a great place to find ebooks, is a shadow of its former self. Borders is looking at disappearing all together. B&N is facing serious hardships. Amazon is not immune to a fickle market place. I tend to think that it will be bored or dissatisfied customers that bring Amazon down before publishers do.
If the big publishers were smart they would work on building a subtle campaign of dissatisfaction with Amazon among its current customers while working out a marketing campaign for a new corporate puppet ebook store. If you can make enough people unhappy with the current system and then offer them a solution then you don't need to worry as much about their loyalties and comfort zones.
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