Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
You are saying that Apple drove a number of ebook stores out of business? Really? That's a pretty wild assertion. B&N purchased fictionwise in 2009 and the web store was closed by B&N in 2012. Booksonboard went out of business in 2013. Diesel eBooks went out of business in 2014. The Apple ebook store and agency pricing didn't go into effect until 2010. Judge Cote ruled on the case in July of 2013. The timeline just doesn't seem to match your narrative. How could Apple cause fictionwise to go out of business months before Apple started talking to the publishers, much less open an ebook store?
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But Fictionwise ran on it's unique business model up until Agency took effect. After that, Fictionwise had to stop what it was doing and be like any other eBookstore. There then wasn't much special about Fictionwise. The fact that B&N bought Fictionwise doesn't matter. Fictionwise was run as it had always been run up until agency made that impossible.
BooksOnBoard's sales and credit back for buying eBooks didn't work under agency. Agency took all of that away. Diesel had discounts for eBook bundles which customers were able to suggest some of them. That was unable to continue due to agency.
So yes, Agency did take away what make the little guys stand out. They tried to stay in business doing it the agency way and they were unable to complete.
Agency pricing started in April 2010. The fact hat these little stores where able to last for a few years is not the issue. The issue is that they closed because agency made their original business model unsustainable and thus made then like everyone else. What made then unique and drve business their way no longer was possible. Apple and the price fix 5 drive them out of business. Inseatd of making more competition, The price fix 5+1 lessened competition by driving stores out of business.