Quote:
Originally Posted by TallMomof2
What really tees me off about this is that I can walk into Costco and buy almost any new release hardback for $15.19 plus 5% sales tax. I was just there today and that's what hardcovers are mostly priced at. Paperbacks are usually $4.99 or $5.99. MMPB a bit higher.
Why should I expect to pay $14.99 for an ebook that will have DRM, only a 50% chance of real cover art, and no ability to resell or giveaway? Plus add that the formatting is rarely as good as the hardback and all I see is that the publishers are greedy and have a very low opinion of ebook consumers. Another thing that upsets me is how little authors make off of any book. I wish my favorite authors had tip jars on their websites so that I could pay them directly.
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very good points. the basic problem is eBook saturation. the eBook market is so small still compared to the overall market of avid readers. if you look at emerging markets alone, simple supply and demand would tell you that a physical book should be priced cheaper than an eBook, even though the eBook has no cost associated with being a physical product.
some of you may have read this before, but steve ballmer, microsoft's CEO has a famous saying (a "ballmerism") that goes, "A business isn't worth entering unless the sales potential is 50 million units or more."
by that yardstick, the dedicated eReader market is clearly not worth entering for a company as big as microsoft. even steve jobs said a couple years ago that nobody reads anymore and sited a stat that 40% of the US reads 1 book or less a year.
to me, the problem is CLEARLY and has always been, market size vs. cost of entry. the dedicated eReader market is far too small right now and the cost of entry is FAR too high. and the cost of entry has a direct impact on market penetration. dedicated eReaders are FAR too expensive. almost every single eReader IMO should be priced $150 or less. there should be several for under $100.
now multi-purpose devices are another story. until dedicated eReaders drop in price dramatically, portable multi-use/multi-purpose devices (handheld computers) like the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android devices, Palm Web OS devices, etc. they are the best thing that's happened to the eBook market. most people probably can't justify spending $250-$300 on a dedicated eBook reader, but if they already have another device (for other purposes) that can ALSO read eBooks in a very easy way, then THAT is something that can push the market forward.
considering all of that, the eBook market is still in its infancy and still maturing. think about the big markets of mobile devices and gadgets... look at how many people have digital cameras, mp3 players, smartphones & cellphones, laptops & netbooks, etc...... those are HUGE markets individually and the dedicated eBook Reader market can't currently hold a candle to any one of them. apple is currently a major player in 3 of those 4 markets.
so the original poster asked why apple has so much more pull than amazon?
THAT'S why.