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Murdoch seems to have stated the basic calculus here: people pay $x for books so we will charge $x (or some slight modification of $x) for books no matter what form they come in. It was the same in the early days of legitimate music buying: CDs cost about $15 so we'll charge about $15 for a CD's worth of music files.
They're operating under the old adage that gave rise to the econ joke: economist purchases an item and, noting he has a few dollars in his wallet as he leaves, remarks "you priced this wrong; I've still got money left."
Until they decide ebooks are a different product than pbooks, they will attempt to charge the same amount for them. That their costs are lower to produce ebooks? Well that's just gravy for them.
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