|
Here in Germany we have price-bindings for books by law that apply to eBooks as well as printed books. Meaning, that the price initially set by the publisher for a book must be adopted by all vendors and can not be easily reduced or made more expensive. With printed books the Premium - Standard - Discount chain was built by starting with hardcover, having a lower price for paperback later and then there are newly printed "special issues" even later for discount.
We will yet have to see, how that turns out in the long run with eBooks; if similar models are applied...
But anyway - the consumer has the "vote by wallet" option.
What I would rather not see is that because of the prices for legal eBooks these become so unattractive that many people turn to illegal copies, leading the publishers to (have to) get the lost margins back from the honest paying customer... a kind of vicious circle in a worst case scenario.
As with Music and Movies we need fitting models for the new technologies, so why not think of "eBook-Flatrates" a.s.o. In Germany that would mean to have to change the law, but in other countries this could actually work.
|