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Originally Posted by AnemicOak
Yeah, cause the facts that the Kindle 'just works' even for non-tech folks,...
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The kindle is nice -- but not 90% marketshare nice. One can debate the 90% or how many books were sold below cost. What is missing in every "Amazon isn't that bad" argument is the publisher's reality. Whatever Amazon was doing, it was so bad that the publishers had to go to war with their number 1 customer.
Amazon wasn't just a retailer. Amazon was a retailer so powerful, that a publisher couldn't dare do without Amazon. Amazon showed the publishers worries to be well founded when Bezos completely eliminated all sales of all versions (paper and electronic) of all books for a publisher. If the publisher had been going it alone, the publisher would have suffered dire consequences. As it was...Amazon had to back down.
Amazon is the Walmart of the internet. Coming into small towns and using it's pricing to drive everyone else out of business. Amazon is not some champion of the people. They are every bit the greedy mega corporation that Apple is, that the Big 6 publishers are and that Walmart is.
The publishers do not have the power, even with Agency pricing, to price their books higher than the market will bear. No one has to buy a book. There are thousands and thousands of authors and independent publishers offering their books for cheap on Amazon. This is not heating oil, or milk or bread. There is no public harm in selling a James Patterson novel for $14.99 instead of $9.99.
There is great public harm in driving all the other book retailers out of business with predatory pricing.