Quote:
Originally Posted by Synamon
I nodded along to the response to Turow by David Gaughran that they linked, titled Scott Turow: Wrong About Everything. I especially liked this reality check:
[Turow] This was a game-changer, and not in a good way. Amazon’s predatory pricing would shield it from e-book competitors that lacked Amazon’s deep pockets.
[Gaughran] Competitors like the most valuable company in the world, Apple? Or the internet search giant, Google? (Both of whom have far deeper pockets than Amazon.) |
The question isn't whether Apple or Google have deeper pockets than Amazon. The question is whether they are willing to and capable of spending the money needed to compete against Amazon in what would be for Apple and Google niche product lines.
Remember that unlike Amazon, Apple and Google consistently think in terms of profit, giving return to shareholders; Bezos, unlike Apple and Google, is willing to lose scads of money and not give shareholders a return.
If we are going to name companies that could fund a competitor to Amazon, we shouldn't leave out ExxonMobil and IBM, among others. Yet I doubt these companies would be willing to spend the money needed to get into a price war regarding ebooks.
For none of the named companies -- except Amazon -- are books in any format a core business. They are peripheral businesses.