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Originally Posted by pwalker8
You still have to figure out some way around the fact that Fictionwise was sold to B&N 10 months before Apple ever started talking to the publishers. After that point Fictionwise was B&N. Why do you think Fictionwise was sold to B&N for a mere $15.7 M, which is basically pocket change to the big boys, 10 months prior to the agency rearing it's evil head? I doubt it was because they were making money hand over fist. My guess is that the Pendergrast brothers saw the writing on the wall and were cashing out.
March 2010 was exactly one year from the date that B&N bought Fictionwise and was 4 months after the Nook was released (Nov 30th, 2009). That strikes me as a lot more relevant.
The other issue is that the overall market share figures don't match the agency killed the book stores narrative. Prior to B&N and Apple entering the market in late Nov 2009 and March 31st, 2010 respectively, Amazon controlled 90% of the market. That doesn't exactly argue healthy independent ebook stores given that the Sony ebook store was in operation then as well.
So you are a independent ebook seller with Amazon having 90% of the market and with B&N and Apple, both with presumed deep pockets just starting to jump into the market. That decision to sell out a year prior is starting to look pretty good.
By 2011, it was roughly 60% Amazon, 27% B&N and 5% Apple. Amazon has slowly been rebuilding it's market share and it's back up to around 83% now.
There have been many examples of smaller front runners falling by the wayside when companies with deep pockets jump into the market. Anyone remember what mp3 player they were using before the iPod hit the market? It doesn't require some convoluted conspiracy theory to explain it.
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B&N bought Fictionwise for the eReader style DRM. But B&N did not close down Fictionwise until it became unsustainable. Fictionwise's business model was successful, but once Agency hit, that was not possible. The timeline shows this all to be true.