I would point out that, if I owned a Kindle, and yesterday I could buy a given book, but today I log in and find that said book isn't available anymore because

I would point out that, if I owned a Kindle, and yesterday I could buy a given book, but today I log in and find that said book isn't available anymore because the vendor of my Kindle is flexing their monopoly power, I'm not sure how happy I would be. Now, let's try a metaphor. It will be a little clunky, since the situation isn't the same. But go with it for a second. I see that Bingo Card Creator sells for $29.95. That seems awfully high. [1] But suppose I've got my hands on the channel through which 50% of Bingo Card Creator's sales are flowing. (Perhaps I'm Google, and I both (a) run AdSense and (b) own a lot of the pipes down which your content flows.) And I'm starting up an app store. My deal for you is: You will license Bingo Card Creator to me for republishing at my app store, where all apps cost $19.95 flat rate. If you refuse, I'll cut off all the ads and distribution that connect you to over half of your customer base, and we'll see how long you can afford to defy me while your cash flow has been cut in half. Of course, if you say yes to $19.95, your customers will be very happy. They will flock to my app store where the prices are lowest. Soon 75% of your customers will arrive through my channel. At which point I might decide to lower the price on your app to $9.95, flat rate. I'm assuming that there is a price point below which you will go out of business, and below which your replacements will go out of business (even if I hire the cheapest labor I can find, and cut QA to the bone). You may prefer not to explore exactly where that point is, if only because you like producing quality products, and because it's nice to not be one temporary sales slump away from bankruptcy. But, thanks to my grip on your distribution channel, we will now perform that experiment, on my schedule and my terms. Why hasn't this happened more often in web software? Perhaps because no monopoly controls a sufficient portion of the network. Perhaps because those with the power are scared of anti-monopolist legislation (which, in this context, we tend to call "net neutrality laws") and don't want to provoke anyone. Perhaps because software-industry mavens are very well practiced at picking up their operations and moving to a different channel literally overnight. Perhaps because software has a huge profit margin compared to print books, which provides healthy margin for emergencies. Perhaps because we've been lucky so far. And perhaps because, if and when Google does destroy entire industries by tweaking a bit in AdSense, they tend to be industries we don't like very much, and/or it tends to stay under the radar. [2] My sense is that this moment isn't so much about publishers and authors trying to stave off the arrival of the internet. It's about an attempt to stave off a monopolist's control of their pricing and distribution. --- [1] To a cheapskate. Cheapskates think all prices are high. People complain about high prices on the iPhone App Store, for god's sake. [2] Note: I haven't seen any credible evidence that this actually happens, although people do complain about it now and then.