Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
I'd say to exclude it as a causal factor is a bit naïve.
Apple entered the market without Amazon driving them right back out with a price war. B&N also gained market share at least in part because Amazon could no longer beat them on pricing and availability.
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I am sorry, but I don't think that this helped BN all that much. BN would have gained market share without the collusion. Given that BN used discounted pricing and the like in its brick and mortar store, I think BN would have used similar practices with their e-book store. Not to mention, people liked the Nook when it was released. Heck, there were folks who bought the Nook because BN was not Amazon and they wanted nothing to do with Amazon.
Kobo might have benefited because it was/is a smaller chain then BN and Amazon so the price leveling helped it went it came on the market. Apple was hoping that it would help them but it is hard to say that the miniscule piece of the market Apple has is going to be worth the legal problems and costs that this is going to have for them.
A recent article said that Apple would pull out of the e-book market if the Agency model went away because it is not worth it to Apple to try and be a wholesale seller. So if the Agency Model does go away, and at least some elements of it are going to go away for at least three Publishers in the very near future, we can expect that Apple is likely to give up the gains that it made. Whether that means they shut down IBooks or they run it like Sony runs their e-bookstore and it is pretty much a non-entity is to be determined.