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Amazon certainly isn’t a monopoly. You’ll want to provide more evidence to back up these claims. More of a meta point - there’s generally an anti-FAANG article

Amazon certainly isn’t a monopoly. You’ll want to provide more evidence to back up these claims. More of a meta point - there’s generally an anti-FAANG article about everyday on HN, and the underlying editorials are typically these same batch of outlets who directly compete with Facebook, Google, or Amazon directly in ads or video content. I take the latest pieces on Bezos forcing warehouse workers into slavery with a pinch of salt. You can certainly believe whatever you want, but these absolute claims with no evidence are hard to take seriously.

ghaff 7y ago
What did you think was anti-Amazon in this article? That Amazon has its own agenda as a publisher? Of course they do. >Amazon certainly isn’t a monopoly. Expensive lawyers spend lots of money arguing about what is and isn't a monopoly. But I think it's hard to argue that, monopoly or not, Amazon is approximately an 8000 pound gorilla in book distribution and, as a consequence, discovery.
danmaz74 7y ago
For ebooks, Amazon is de facto a monopoly.
- mrep 7y ago
  Not only can I can buy ebooks from amazon, google play, barnes and noble, and itunes, but I can also upload books/pdfs/files from elsewhere onto each others apps (albeit, sometimes requiring changing the file type). I wouldn't call that a monopoly.
  - icebraining 7y ago
    Under US law¹, a monopoly is a firm that holds monopoly power, and monopoly power is "the power to control prices or exclude competition"². I don't think it's a stretch to say that Amazon has the power to control prices in that market. ¹ Under EU antitrust law, the word "monopoly" is not used ² See United States v. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.
    - mrep 7y ago
      How is amazon able to control prices or exclude competition? If you don't like their terms, just list your book on one of the other 3 sites and tell your fans to buy it there and if they really want to read it on their kindle, send them a guide on how to upload it to kindle which is very easy to do.
      - danmaz74 7y ago
        Buying the book somewhere else and uploading to the Kindle is far from being easy for an average reader.
        tracer4201 7y ago
        You can read on other devices too - such as android phones, tablets, and iPads. Im willing to go on a limb here and say these devices probably sell more than Kindle. Kindle is not the only device to read this content. The mental gymnastics you’re going through here to support the Amazon monopoly claim is funny.
      - icebraining 7y ago
        "Control prices" doesn't mean for every single product, but for the market as a whole. Most authors don't have a fanbase that sustains their sales alone. That said, remember that being a monopoly is not illegal. Only abusing it is.
    - specialist 7y ago
      Bork et al (Federalist Society, Cato Institute) believe that consumer prices is the only criteria for determining anti-trust. They utterly exclude anti-competitive behaviors. How a fare price can be determined without healthy competition is left unanswered.
  - danmaz74 7y ago
    "Including indie books (published without ISBN), Amazon accounts for 83% of US ebook purchases – and the rest is almost entirely shared between the Apple iBookStore, Barnes & Noble, Kobo US and the GooglePlay Books." https://publishdrive.com/amazon-ebook-market-share/ https://publishdrive.com/amazon-ebook-market-share/
specialist 7y ago
Do you support corporations using their superior knowledge and cheaper capital to snuff competition?
- tracer4201 7y ago
  That’s a rhetorical question. This isn’t Reddit.

ghaff 7y ago

What did you think was anti-Amazon in this article? That Amazon has its own agenda as a publisher? Of course they do. >Amazon certainly isn’t a monopoly. Expensive lawyers spend lots of money arguing about what is and isn't a monopoly. But I think it's hard to argue that, monopoly or not, Amazon is approximately an 8000 pound gorilla in book distribution and, as a consequence, discovery.

danmaz74 7y ago

For ebooks, Amazon is de facto a monopoly.

mrep 7y ago
Not only can I can buy ebooks from amazon, google play, barnes and noble, and itunes, but I can also upload books/pdfs/files from elsewhere onto each others apps (albeit, sometimes requiring changing the file type). I wouldn't call that a monopoly.
- icebraining 7y ago
  Under US law¹, a monopoly is a firm that holds monopoly power, and monopoly power is "the power to control prices or exclude competition"². I don't think it's a stretch to say that Amazon has the power to control prices in that market. ¹ Under EU antitrust law, the word "monopoly" is not used ² See United States v. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.
  - mrep 7y ago
    How is amazon able to control prices or exclude competition? If you don't like their terms, just list your book on one of the other 3 sites and tell your fans to buy it there and if they really want to read it on their kindle, send them a guide on how to upload it to kindle which is very easy to do.
    - danmaz74 7y ago
      Buying the book somewhere else and uploading to the Kindle is far from being easy for an average reader.
      - tracer4201 7y ago
        You can read on other devices too - such as android phones, tablets, and iPads. Im willing to go on a limb here and say these devices probably sell more than Kindle. Kindle is not the only device to read this content. The mental gymnastics you’re going through here to support the Amazon monopoly claim is funny.
    - icebraining 7y ago
      "Control prices" doesn't mean for every single product, but for the market as a whole. Most authors don't have a fanbase that sustains their sales alone. That said, remember that being a monopoly is not illegal. Only abusing it is.
  - specialist 7y ago
    Bork et al (Federalist Society, Cato Institute) believe that consumer prices is the only criteria for determining anti-trust. They utterly exclude anti-competitive behaviors. How a fare price can be determined without healthy competition is left unanswered.
- danmaz74 7y ago
  "Including indie books (published without ISBN), Amazon accounts for 83% of US ebook purchases – and the rest is almost entirely shared between the Apple iBookStore, Barnes & Noble, Kobo US and the GooglePlay Books." https://publishdrive.com/amazon-ebook-market-share/ https://publishdrive.com/amazon-ebook-market-share/

specialist 7y ago

Do you support corporations using their superior knowledge and cheaper capital to snuff competition?

tracer4201 7y ago
That’s a rhetorical question. This isn’t Reddit.