Quote:
Originally Posted by Alisa
My theory on why they don't interoperate is that Mobipocket has agreements with the companies that sell books in its format that it shall not undercut the price. Mobipocket.com sells books. You'll notice the prices are insane compared to other resellers. This agreement is why. I think Amazon is trying to keep the Mobipocket business and the Kindle business separate so it can argue that it is not violating this agreement while still being able to charge competitive prices. The .azw books, despite being Mobipocket format, are not nominally the same and cannot be read on Mobipocket software or anything other than a Kindle without using ToS-violating and possibly illegal methods.
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Maybe I'm being stupid - often the case - but I'm not sure I see the arument here. You think that the publishers won't notice that Amazon is using basically the same format to publish books cheaper?
In any case, why does Amazon need to tread carefully? Who do you think really owns the book market today - Amazon or the publishers?