Quote:
Originally Posted by jarrahloh
Also, we all need to remember why the prices for eBook are so high.
It has nothing to do with the production costs or perceived value etc.
It has everything to do with legacy publishers dragging their feet into the future and trying their absolute hardest to slow the popularity of eBooks.
And that is basically it.
So, in a roundabout way, the more you buy the paper copies over the eBooks, the longer the prices will stay higher. But I'm obviously talking longterm here.
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It does NOT have "everything to do with legacy publishers dragging their feet". It is no more complicated than simple economics 101... charging what the market will bear.
ereaders were considered "boutique" devices. When they reached critical mass, they were selling between $200-$300. People with enough disposable income to justify that purchase would certainly be willing to pay a premium for content to fill those devices.
In addition, the size of the ereader market is such that it isn't large enough to generate the type of revenue and profit that they want. The higher prices for ebooks aren't about slowing the popularity of ebooks, it is about obtaining revenue targets from a smaller audience.
ereaders have yet to reach the commodity stage of consumerism. At the current rate of new devices being released and prices being lowered, that point will probably be the holiday shopping season of 2013.
Once ereaders become impulse items and are hanging on the racks at checkout lines in supermarkets, then we'll start to see the pricing of ebooks drop. When there are 100's millions of dedicated ereader devices (no, iOS and Android apps don't count) the market will be sufficiently large enough to hit those revenue targets at lower ebook pricepoints.
Bottom line: why would publishers lower their ebook prices when people who own ereader devices are buying ebooks at the current prices?