After looking at some of the other threads, it mainly looks like publishers are trying to determine what price the Market will bear.
Or more likely if your are cynical about it are trying to set the highest price they get for the books, letting the retailer eat their own profit to bring the price down to sensible level.
Still, what it's doing is removing one of the major advantage's getting an ebook should have, a cheaper price.
When will people learn that trying to milk your best supporters for all their worth is the best way to lose them. Why do they refuse to learn from the experiemces of the Music and movie industry.
