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Originally Posted by stonetools
Apple would not have done the IBookstore absent the agency pricing model. They were quite clear on that. They rejected a publisher proposal based on the wholsale model, and countered with an agency pricing proposal on a take it or leave basis.
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So if the other publishers would happen to "lose" ("not win" ... be found to have "done something uncool"—whatever the technical lingo happens to be that means the same thing as "lose") their court case and the punishment is anything similar to the settlement for the publishers who chose
not to go to court (assuming the proposed settlement stands), what do you think will be the fate of the iBooks store?
Will they attempt to "hang in there, baby" with agency pricing model contracts with all of the publishers for a few years while the rest of the industry reverts—at least temporarily—to wholesale? Will they be willing to play the wholesale pricing game for a bit? Or will they cut their "losses" and get out of eBook retail? If it's truly agency or bust for Apple... I have to believe iBooks won't survive even a temporary agency pricing hiatus.