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I think initial releases of some books being hard cover only is to justify selling them for $20-$25 rather than the $8-$12 a new paper back cost. I very much doubt it cost twice as much to product a hard cover.
I certainly think the price of a book should be, similar to digital movies, based on how long it has been released. "Back catalog" as they call it generally sells for less than new releases. The major advantage with "Back Catalog" of ebooks is that there really is nothing to stock. I think the "no stock cost" and "low shipping cost" and "low duplication cost" of ebooks are really lost on publishers. At lot of people would still pay $8-$10 for an ebook which is much more profitable to a publisher than selling an $8 paper back book due to the above mentioned eliminated costs.
Another advantage of the ebook wave to the publisher is that they can sell the books direct, via the web and cut out the middleman. I am pretty sure B&N and Borders take a cut of all the prices. The "retail" price is not the "price" the publisher gets from the book. Actually, all the middlemen go away, the printer, the warehouse, the distributor, the shipper, etc. Also, stock management becomes simple... a server farm and a nice SAN. Of course, copies are made on demand (POD?) as they are purchased.
BOb
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