Publicly known prices are one of the elements of the ideal free market, as described in economics textbooks. It's well-known that free markets encourage competi

Publicly known prices are one of the elements of the ideal free market, as described in economics textbooks. It's well-known that free markets encourage competition and generally push the margins of vendors down, even to subsistence level, which is great for consumers, but obviously not attractive for vendors. So, naturally, the companies do everything to move away from the free market as far as possible - i.e. have a monopoly/oligopoly if possible, or introduce super-convoluted contracts that the average consumer has no chance of understanding (EULAs etc.), hide their pricing etc. In general - the more muddy the situation is, the more it favors bigger players.