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Originally Posted by pwalker8
Sure, it's an estimate just like all percentages of the market (pretty much any market) are estimates. The difference is they know how much they sold. They look at the various estimates on how many ebooks are sold, and go from there. Actually, I suspect that the ebook's sold figures are pretty solid. Remember, authors are paid based on ebooks sold, so there is at least a paper trail (or electronic trail as the case may be) backing up the check they get. Interview enough authors and you get a pretty good idea. I would think that it's more likely to be correct than not.
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I know, know, know I will be sorry to join in on this discussion, BUT, given that the vast bulk of Apple's catalog are free books from SW, the ability to inflate figures by including free book downloads is pretty easy. iBooks also comes with free books already installed on it, so those may or may not be included in Apple's figures. Apple certainly does not have any way to "interview" authors that aren't included in its catalog, like the hundreds of thousands that are pubbed on Amazon or Amazon & B&N alone. As I said, in our author list, (which includes NY-Times bestselling authors, Pulitzer-winners, Edgar winners, as well as self-pubs) the average is one book on iBooks for 1,000 (literally) on Amazon. I can't reconcile that to "20%" of the ebook market. I simply cannot. Are they counting every installation of iBooks? Every sale? I mean...how are they quantifying what counts as:
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"sales grew 100 percent last year at the iBookstore and it had over 100 million customers."
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Sales growing 100% means nothing. That could be $2 from $1, for all we know. With regard to "it had over 100 million customers," again: is that everyone that installs iBooks? I honestly don't remember if iBooks came pre-installed on my iPad--I believe it did. If that's how they are counting "customers," that's a mightily-inflated figure. Worse, what about people who install it on their iPhones, and never use it again? Are they counting those folks, too? I do not believe--not for one second--that they sold 100 million books in 2012. Do you? When Apple releases actual sales figures, and says "we sold, for money, X books," that will give us a real idea. But verbiage as deliberately obfuscatory and misleading as this is not my idea of evidence, nor facts. There's a fine art to misleading a courtroom, and that statement is a prime example of it.
Again: not taking the position that Apple doesn't have 20% of "the ebook market," although I just don't see it. I don't care about this argument, but there is a genuine difference between
actual facts and statements that may as well be press releases. That statement is, with all due respect, completely meaningless and has zero factual data to back it up,
that has been provided in this case (or in any other fashion). It's not like they submit SEC filings saying that they sold X books for Y dollars (nor does Amazon, B&N, Sony, Diesel, etc.). Without those numbers, we are all guessing and quite frankly, arguing over absolutely nothing but air.
I mean, hell, if we're all going to argue, let's not argue over something that has about as much evidence as the possibility of intelligent life somewhere else in the Universe. If/when the court compels them to turn over HARD DATA, then, gang, this particular non-factoid will be worth arguing over. Until then, it's like arguing about religion.
Just my $.02.
Hitch