"The argument is that the cheaper the book is, the more people will buy it. But hardcover books have an audience, and we shouldn't cannibalize it."
Well - currently on Amazon - you can buy many hardcover editions of best-sellers and new releases for pennies - from the folk who immediately buy and read the latest title by popular authors, and then dump them. So publishers miss out totally on those sales. But they could be getting their share of $9.99 per ebook from day one that the book is available.
You do the math.
