Cosign everything Kali Yuga said.
I think the perceived value thing people get excited about here is much less important to the publishers than this:
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The "fuss about Amazon" is that they were subsidizing lower prices, and it is likely that once they establish a solid monopoly on ebooks, they will be able to make increasingly stringent demands on the publishers. Agency pricing flattens the playing field, preserves competition, and hopefully curbs some of Amazon's heavy-handed behavior.
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That's why the publishers are willing to sacrifice money NOW. They want to guard against this:
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In a note to a publishing executive nervous about sticking it to Amazon (AMZN), Jobs wrote:
As I see it, [Conspiring Publisher] has the following choices:
1. Throw in with Apple and see if we can all make a go of this to create a real mainstream ebooks market at $12.99 and $14.99.
2. Keep going with Amazon at $9.99. You will make a bit more money in the short term, but in the medium term Amazon will tell you they will be paying you 70% of $9.99. They have shareholders too.
3. Hold back your books from Amazon. Without a way for customers to buy your ebooks, they will steal them. This will be the start of piracy and once started, there will be no stopping it. Trust me, I've seen this happen with my own eyes.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see any other alternatives. Do you?
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This convinced one publisher. Just about everyone on these forums skips over this, but really for publishers, there WOULD be no other alternatives-except setting up their own sales channels (which they are planning to do as well).