Quote:
Originally Posted by Cinisajoy
Popping in to ask, what if it was any other place?
It is not that big of a deal.
Some of you are acting like Amazon is the Only place to shop. It isn't.
|
If it was any other place, the reaction would probably be: "Whatever. I'll shop somewhere else."
However, for ebooks, in the UK and US, it basically *is* the only place to shop if you don't want to pay 10-30% more than the Amazon price. The only reason to go to Kobo or somewhere else is because they sometimes have huge coupons, or if you want epub books without conversion.
And also, Amazon is too big to ignore. They have millions of customers locked into their services and e-reading system; customers who stand to lose a lot of services and/or media if this company turns against them, which erodes the customer's power. Because nobody wants to lose all that stuff they have invested in, the company can basically do whatever it wants.
"We are right because we say so" is one of the first signs of people (or companies) who are becoming too rich, too powerful, and too full of themselves. An entity as big as Amazon (or Google, Microsoft, Apple.... etc) will need to be watched carefully not to abuse the power they wield in the markets in which they operate.