Most hardback publishers release hardbacks first at a high price because there are customers who don't want to wait and who are willing to pay more. It isn't like a hardback costs twenty dollars more to make than a paperback, after all. Unless Penguin decides to release hardback and paperback simultaneously, they'll want to price eBooks relative to whatever paper books they have available. As we saw with The Da Vinci Code, when paperbacks become available, the eBooks can then be discounted.
As I've mentioned on Mobileread before, BooksForABuck.com offers fairly dramatic discounts on eBooks relative to pBooks for two reasons: (1) the POD technology we use for pBooks is expensive per book; and (2) we don't have a huge network of retailers who could sabotage our core business if they thought we were underselling them by directly offering eBooks at a discount. In an earlier life I worked distribution channels and believe me, this is a huge issue. (It's still an issue in the eBook world. Fictionwise, Mobipocket, etc. require that publishers not systematically undercut them with eBooks).
Rob Preece
Publisher,
www.BooksForABuck.com