Just noticed this.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57393834-93/go-feds-e-books-are-way-overpriced/?tag=mncol;posts
All you Apple fan boys should take note. THIS is the REAL profit motivated company.
Robert
Not saying Apple is innocent in anyway, but Apple with ibooks has lead to lower ebook prices. It has given publishers big and small a fairer portion the over all ebook profits too. Since some smaller publishers were getting less than 10 cents on the dollar with amazon.
-Dan
If you read the article Apple doesn't set the prices, the publishers do. Apple takes a 30% cut of the ebooks that are sold through their store. Amazon used to buy in bulk and had the leverage to make the publisher come to their terms. Once the iPad was released with iBooks the publishers had the option with Apple to set their own prices, so it's the publishers that set the prices not Apple. Apple gave them that option with the agency model. Amazon had previously bought in bulk and sold some at a loss to build the market for the Kindle which in turn would have more people buying ebooks. Amazon was trying to build it's base and was willing to take a loss on some books. Apple came along and used a different model that the publishers preferred.
It amazes me how everyone try's to blame Apple for all kinds of issues. If the other companies were so great why hadn't they produced a touch screen smart phone before the iPhone? Because they weren't forced to. Most of the mobile manufactures try to dictate what the consumer wanted and Apple looked at what they though consumers wanted and end up hitting a home run. All the mobile companies and pundits said Apple wouldn't be successful with a mobile phone because they weren't in the industry and were new to it. Well they basically rewrote the book for device manufactures and they are all trying to play catch up now. Amazon had basically dictated what the ebook market was and again Apple has rewritten the tablet market and everyone is trying to play catchup.
Apple's model actually allows anyone to sell ebooks that they write and Apple takes a 30% cut regardless who publishes it. If someone as an independent person publishes an ebook with Amazon or B&N they will take up to a 70% cut of the sale price so who is really motivated by profit and taking advantage of people?
Apple keeps changing they industries, first with music, then the iPhone and now tablets and everyone is trying to play catchup and doesn't like Apple. If the publishers loved Amazon's model so much why were they read to jump at Apple's model. Oh yeah and one of Apple's policies is that digital textbooks that they now sell can only be priced up to $14.99, to keep them affordable.
I know I shouldn't respond to this but are you suggesting that people who use apple computers should switch to computers running an operating system created by a company that has never been investigated for antitrust violation...perhaps an operating system like Microsoft Windows [:P].
I for one am very happy that Logos gives us access to our books on Windows, OS x, IOS, Android, and web based so that each of us can use whatever fits our personal preferences (Disclaimer. I regularly use software running on Windows, Linux, OS X, and IOS. I also own a kindle.)
Apple takes a 30% cut
30 percent? Does not this impact what a publisher must set a price at? (Higher)
Apple's policies is that digital textbooks that they now sell can only be priced up to $14.99, to keep them affordable.
Hmmm. 30 percent of $14.99, and any book that a publisher may have to produce at a highter cost is precluded?
I anticipated an instant defense of Apple with my initial post.
It amazes me how everyone try's to blame Apple for all kinds of issues. If the other companies were so great why hadn't they produced a touch screen smart phone before the iPhone?
Apple was not the first but almost every one before it depended on stylus' something Steve Jobs detested. Apple brought a quality OS to birth, with iOS, before that Palm was likely the best mobile OS out there but it was becoming a bit dated and was not positioned to a be a more stable OS.
Oh yeah and one of Apple's policies is that digital textbooks that they now sell can only be priced up to $14.99, to keep them affordable.
This is the policy but publishers still demand higher prices on some new books, I have one preordered that is 23.99 and it is stated PUBLISHER set price.
Apple takes a 30% cut 30 percent? Does not this impact what a publisher must set a price at? (Higher)
No, that's not how the market works. They "need" to set the price that will net them the most dollars. The fact that Apple takes any percentage will have no bearing on that, because it's a consumer or demand driven curve. The publishers had wanted higher prices (in theory, based on what they teach in econ) because they believed that even though they would sell fewer books, the total of (# eBooks) * (price of eBooks) would be more than they were receiving with Amazon. Amazon had an arrangement where they would buy the eBooks at a particular price and then sell them at whatever price they wanted. When Apple came into town, they simply offered to sell books the same way they sell everything else. The program writer or publisher gets to set the price, and Apple gets their cut for bringing buyers and sellers together. But up to this point there is no funny business--just companies being companies.
Perhaps Jobs encouraged the publishers to play hardball with Amazon to end the wholesale model and move to the agency model. I don't know, but if they did, then that would be antitrust behavior. That's what the DoJ would be investigating, and we'll see what comes of that.
My whole issue with eBooks is that publishers have everything backwards. They're hanging dearly onto their dead trees, and in my opinion, they're giving up a lot of profits because of their fear. I think rather than maximize their income on eBook sales as they should be doing economically, they're pricing their intellectual property at a place that preserves their physical publishing model. There is no marginal cost to producing another eBook, unlike a physical book. Once the book is written, edited and typeset, that's it, there are no more creation costs--those are all fixed/sunk costs. From there, their distribution model (physical or electronic) has to be based on marginal costs. So besides paying an author on whatever agreement the publishers have, it doesn't cost them anything to sell an eBook.
In practically every industry, economics shows that the price of a good approaches the marginal cost of production. This is because of competition, and any excess profit over marginal cost will bring more producers into the market until "economic profit" = 0. This does not happen when producers collude, which would lead to artificially high prices, which really seems to be the case in the eBook market. I hope something changes.
I know I shouldn't respond to this but are you suggesting that people who use apple computers should switch to computers running an operating system created by a company that has never been investigated for antitrust violation...perhaps an operating system like Microsoft Windows .
Some years ago, Microsoft Windows with Internet Explorer bundling was found guilty of antitrust violations in the US => http://www.networkworld.com/news/2000/0403msverdict.html and in Europe => http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240054310/Europe-finds-Microsoft-guilty-in-antitrust-case
Previous "Big Blue" changed their business practices to avoid an antitrust conviction.
Amazon had an arrangement where they would buy the eBooks at a particular price and then sell them at whatever price they wanted. When Apple came into town, they simply offered to sell books the same way they sell everything else. The program writer or publisher gets to set the price, and Apple gets their cut for bringing buyers and sellers together.
Publishers previously had a problem with Amazon's pricing policies => http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/46244-kindle-we-have-a-problem-amazon-s-pricing-policies-affect-publishers-.html
Apple's 30 % cut is a better deal than Amazon's for publishers (especially for international electronic delivery) => http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2011/02/15/the-true-cost-of-publishing-on-the-amazon-kindle/
An article about Google eBooks => http://indiecommerce.com/tough-questions-and-answers-about-google-ebooks-pricing includes:
Wall Street Journal has an article about lawsuit plus several potential remedies => http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203961204577267831767489216.html
If a settlement is reached, which satisfies antitrust agencies in the US and Europe, wonder about impact on Vyrso eBooks and Logos resources ? (possibly offer more eBooks, which could have promotions)
By the way, Google's free maps has been found anti-competitive in France => http://www.geek.com/articles/news/free-google-maps-api-deemed-anti-competitive-in-france-2012022/
Keep Smiling [:)]
Wow...that article was bias and misrepresented the truth.
ome years ago, Microsoft Windows with Internet Explorer bundling was found guilty of antitrust violations in the US => http://www.networkworld.com/news/2000/0403msverdict.html a
Thanks, I'm aware that Microsoft and pretty much every major computer computer company has been found guilty of violating the law. (I'm old enough to remember that "DOS ain't done til Lotus won't run). It's Friday and while reading this forum on a break from work I couldn't resist the bait. I've noticed that you've been very helpful with Mac users of Logos. I'm not a fan boy and believe in using whatever gets the job done. Up until a few months ago I would often tell mac users that I was allergic to apples (computers). Due to some interesting circumstances I currently using only Apple computers at home. Work is still Windows due to proprietary software. (Visual basic front end with CICS and DB2 on a mainframe)
