U.S. Justice Dept. to Sue Publishers, Apple, for Price Collusion?

[djulian]

It's interesting that Jobs' own words may be the most damning for Apple.

On a related note, I recently discovered that if you publish through iBooks, you relinquish your rights to distribute that publication in other storefronts. Apple has been a remarkable force for technological advancement, but their business practices leave something to be desired.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by djulian

On a related note, I recently discovered that if you publish through iBooks, you relinquish your rights to distribute that publication in other storefronts.

Are you sure?
There seem to be quite a lot of books in the iBookstore that are also on Amazon

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Are you sure?
There seem to be quite a lot of books in the iBookstore that are also on Amazon

The previous poster is probably thinking of Apple's free multimedia creation tool "iBook Publisher". If you choose to use this free tool, then the output from it can only be sold in the iBookstore (it can freely given away elsewhere, but not sold). Given, though, that it's a tool for creating multimedia content which will only work in iBooks, this is not a terribly great restriction.

There was a long thread about this recently.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by djulian

On a related note, I recently discovered that if you publish through iBooks, you relinquish your rights to distribute that publication in other storefronts. Apple has been a remarkable force for technological advancement, but their business practices leave something to be desired.

I think you miss the point. The business practices are good for Apple. That they slam everyone else is irrelevant. Steve Jobs made it very clear that he didn't care one whit about anyone but himself and by extension Apple. Jobs never thought twice that he was charging a premium price for mediocre equipment that happened to be more nicely packaged than the competition even if it was not more functional and sometimes less functional.

[Daithi]

In the end, I'm not so sure that it is going to matter very much. Amazon wanted to keep the price for bestsellers at $9.99 in order to attract market share for their "new" eReaders, but now that consumers have gotten used to paying more than $9.99 I don't see prices going back down.

The agency model might get jettisoned, but I bet higher prices are here to stay. Unfortunately, if Amazon tries deeply discounting ebook versions then I think we can also expect to see the publishers not releasing an ebook version until months after releasing the hardback. However, if Amazon does get to buy and sell under the old model then we probably won't see ebooks costing more than paperbacks like sometimes occurs now.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by charmian

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...767489216.html

WSJ reports that the U.S. Justice department may sue Apple and five publishers for violating antitrust laws.

Finally some head way is being made, hopefully this will help return eBooks to more practical prices.

Originally Posted by HarryT

The European Commission is also currently investigating the issue of eBook pricing.

Didn't they start the investigation a year before the DOJ?

=X=

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by =X=

Didn't they start the investigation a year before the DOJ?

Yes, that's right. I believe it was the EC investigation which triggered the DOJ one.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by stonetools

The DOJ has been investigating the agency pricing agreement for some time. The reason why they haven't taken legal action, IMO? Because they realize that undoing agency would hand the ebook retail market to Amazon on a silver platter.

From the article: "The publishers' argument that agency pricing increased competition hasn't persuaded the Justice Department, a person familiar with the matter said. Government lawyers have questioned how competition could have increased when prices went up. Amazon declined to comment."

How has the agency model increased competition? What now-thriving ebookstores were languishing before the agency model? Does Diesel have a better market share? BooksOnBoard?

Agency pricing effectively killed Fictionwise. It killed any bookstore that wanted to use discounts and coupons as its method to draw in customers of mainstream bestsellers, and any bookstore whose business model included "buy $50 worth of books; get a free ebook worth $5 in your next sale."

Agency pricing prohibits a lot of innovation in business models, and there's no indication it's done anything to hurt Amazon's position.

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by stonetools

The DOJ has been investigating the agency pricing agreement for some time. The reason why they haven't taken legal action, IMO? Because they realize that undoing agency would hand the ebook retail market to Amazon on a silver platter. They would be creating more work for themselves ( future action vs Amazon) if they just undid the agency model.
I'm thinking that they may end up leaving agency in place, but remove any terms favorable to Apple. Whatever the DOJ does , it's going to take Into the account the publisher's stated goal of preserving a diversity of ebook retailers.

It's funny actually, because the music industry effectively handed iTunes the lion's share of MP3 sales by insisting on DRM - iTunes was the first to develop a decent market and was able to lock people in to its technology with the DRM record companies insisted on. Then, when iTunes wielded more power than the record companies because of the practice, they told the record companies they would be selling DRM free tracks.

The publishing industry didn't learn this lesson and used DRM to help Amazon secure a position similar to that of Apple. Then, when the publishers finally woke up, they realized that they'd created a monster and may have broken the law in trying to regain some of their control.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

How has the agency model increased competition?

It means that it puts even the smallest bookshop on an even keel with the big players on price terms. The same argument is used for fixed pricing for books in many European countries, and there is some truth in it. Fixed pricing for books was abolished in the UK in 1997. Since then, and as a direct result, the overwhelming majority of small independent booksellers have gone out of business.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It means that it puts even the smallest bookshop on an even keel with the big players on price terms. The same argument is used for fixed pricing for books in many European countries, and there is some truth in it. Fixed pricing for books was abolished in the UK in 1997. Since then, and as a direct result, the overwhelming majority of small independent booksellers have gone out of business.

There's only one independent bookstore that sells new books, that I know of in my area. It specializes in murder mysteries, and has been there longer than anyone can remember. Everyone else either sells comic books and role-playing games, or sticks to the used book trade.

The irony is, Borders and Barnes & Noble didn't seem to ever give discounts on books unless you had a coupon. Everything was priced right at MSRP.

[6charlong]

The biggest independent bookstore where I live started selling eBooks and after years of losing sales to Amazon they were finally able to compete. Their draw isn't coupons or price but rather customer support in the form of hosting book clubs, author readings and signings, children's corner, etc.

eBooks have given them a new life because they could never compete with Amazon on price, not with Amazon Prime selling discounted books with essentially free shipping.

[jbcohen]

Simply could care less about the agency model, I know what I want to pay for my books and $10 is simply way to high, won't pay that. If they won't sell to me at the price I want to pay that's fine I have several book stores that are willing to sell to me at the price I want to pay. Enough that I really could care less about the content that gets left out. I'll pay up to $6 not a penny more.

[Sydney's Mom]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It means that it puts even the smallest bookshop on an even keel with the big players on price terms. The same argument is used for fixed pricing for books in many European countries, and there is some truth in it. Fixed pricing for books was abolished in the UK in 1997. Since then, and as a direct result, the overwhelming majority of small independent booksellers have gone out of business.

This was Stephen King's argument for windowing Under the Dome. Target, Walmart and Amazon got into a price war for the hardcover, and it was ultimately $7. The independent bookstores were locked out anyway.

A lot of high end clothing and jewelry manufacturers have been able to avoid any discounting of their product. But books are more like Coco-Cola. Just about everyone buys it, and it is sold everywhere, at very different prices. I pay 25 cents a can at Costco, and $1 a can at the local convenience store.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

How has the agency model increased competition? What now-thriving ebookstores were languishing before the agency model? Does Diesel have a better market share? BooksOnBoard?

If it helped anyone it was probably B&N.