Quote:
Originally Posted by leebase
Amazon killed them.
Fictionwise and the like were no real competition to Amazon in the first place. If you think anybody was going to undercut Amazon on pricing over time, you are dreaming.
Amazon uses predatory pricing...selling the best selling books at a loss as incentive to sell their kindles. No business is going to willingly allow another business to turn their money making products into full time loss leaders, devaluing their products.
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No-one was serious competition on paper books online or eBooks (in English) by the time Apple launched iBooks.
You have it the wrong way round. Kindle with Adds basic model is predatory priced to sell eBooks. The Fire Tablet is even more predatory priced, about 1/10th price of an iPad (yes inferior, but still dirt cheap) to sell Amazon content of ebooks and has the Amazon App Store instead of Google Playstore, though really a below cost Android tablet.
The content providers set the price on Amazon for ebooks. Amazon does do misleading adverts to get you to buy the product they sell.
Google will take a providers price as a guide and may discount, yet of big companies may have lowest market share. On actual sales (not KU which is book equivalent of PayTV) Amazon doesn't discount KDP prices.
Apple succeeded with iTunes because back before almost anyone was selling online music they did a deal with content providers to sell Albums per track. They weren't even first with an MP3 player.
It's totally unrelated to ebooks. Amazon already was #1 online paper book seller in English before the first Sony eReader. They bought out the world's most successful ebook platform in 2005, two years before the Kindle released, Mobipocket. Since then they bought Book Depository, Abe Books, Goodreads and what became CreateSpace.
Apple's lead with iTunes was a content and marketing coup. They had no legitimate competition.
But on books they are in a worse position than Sony was, who passed user base and shop to Kobo. Both Apple Books (formerly iBooks) and Google PlayStore Books may be doomed. Apple was never going to beat Amazon on ebooks like they succeeded with iTunes. Completely different scenario.
Also while a slim majority read ebooks on Apps, that's still nearly 50% on eink, which Apple doesn't deliver to.
Also Apple has only slightly more than Android market Share in USA.
Who reads Apple books other than on iPhone or iPad? How many iPhone/iPad users actually mostly use Amazon Kindle?
So do as many as 25% of USA ebooks read (biggest Apple market) are actually Apple Books?
But Amazon eBooks have over 92% of USA market. The ebooks from Apple Books and Google Playstore are vanity markets. We've sold more via Barnes & Noble (presumably Nook owners) than Apple Books, and B&N is struggling to sell ebooks.
It would have made no difference if Apple had won. The case was irrelevant.