Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
Blogger Eon Purcell notes that Apple may have created a big opportunity for publishers to sell directly to consumers, rather than through retailers:
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This is a ridiculous statement. Apple is offering publishers a chance to use
Apple as a retailer, that's all. Apple doesn't want to cut out the middle-man, it wants to
be the middle-man.
Does Shatzkin seriously think publishers want to get involved in producing reader hardware? Does he think they want to deal with all the customer-support issues currently handled by Amazon, B&N and Kobo? Shatzkin sometimes makes sense, but not here.
No, there's no 'big new opportunity' here for publishers, at least not one that doesn't come with precisely the sort of overheads that they seek to avoid by giving retailers a cut of the consumer's dollar.