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Originally Posted by eschwartz
Neither Amazon nor any other ebook-seller cares about DRM, they are only doing what is necessary to make deals with the publishers who DO want it.
The thing is, Amazon is only dominant in terms of them being the only ebookstore that has any idea of what they are doing.
And I believe, though I cannot find my source again, that Amazon has offered to license their DRM scheme to other sellers, but nobody wants to. They prefer using Adobe ADEPT. I have no idea what Amazon might charge, though.
Amazon's dominance will end whenever someone else comes out with a system as well integrated as Amazon's, which "Just Works".
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In an interview a few years back Bezos said he was willing to license the Kindle DRM to *hardware* vendors with the proviso that they had to support whispernet. This was back when few readers had wi-fi and before the switch to near-cost pricing. Not much point to it now, when all the profit lies in the books.
Amazon does cut deals to preinstall their apps on phones, tablets, and PCs. And they share ebook revenue with some retailers that carry their readers and tablets.
Which is why talk of government action against them is delusional.They have have scrupulously avoided any moves that would trigger valid legal challenges. Most notably: they don't tie consumer access to their bookstore to the purchase of their hardware.