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Edited - My comment earlier was worded poorly and did not come across as I was hoping. The price fixing talk did not start with Amazon. It started because when

Edited - My comment earlier was worded poorly and did not come across as I was hoping. The price fixing talk did not start with Amazon. It started because when Apple joined the market the publishers where not going to give them the same deal that Amazon had forced on them. So I think Apple wanting to get a piece of the market worked with the publishers and they all set the same pricing. Now it happened so quickly that people think they fixed the price which I agree they did. Instead of each one working with apple to come up with there own pricing. This whole price fixing thing came about when Amazon had 95% of the market share and was able to dictate the prices, since they where the only ones selling e-books in large amounts. Now that apple is in the market along with other people Amazon share is at about 55% so they have lost that ability to control the market. I do think Apple and the book companies came together to set a hire price and force Amazon to follow suit or risk not having all the books that Apple would have. I do not understand why the books have to cost that much. I agree with NathanKP in that they are just files and the cost to the publisher is almost nothing at all. I know they are wanting to make a profit but I think when you charge more then a paper book something is wrong. Go all e-books with a lot less paper books and call yourself the greenest in the business. I find that a lot of companies are scared of change and I am not sure why. I see change as a great thing that can propel the world in to new and better technology.

floppydisk 15y ago
It seems counter intuitive, but I think it has to do with the opening up of the ebook market. Several years ago, Amazon offered the only decent ereader in town--the Kindle. Thus, given the limited market, they could dictate price and keep the market price low because there wasn't much demand. Fast forward several years and each of the major bookstore chains offered their own ebook reader (Nook, Kobo) and tablets started offering ebook experiences--either through Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Kobo apps or the tablet creator's own ebook reader (iBooks). The market explodes in terms of the number of devices people now read on, and publishers start treating ebooks as an accepted way of offering content--with that comes the high costs in terms of marketing, promotion, post-production costs (do they do anything special for ebooks), that kind of thing.
- iand 15y ago
  I'm dubious about this analysis. You seem to be saying that prices were low when Amazon had a monopoly and prices have risen as competition entered the market. That's counterintuitive so perhaps I've missed something.
  - WoundedMarlin 15y ago
    I am saying the prices where lower then they are now. When Amazon had a almost all the market share they were able to bully the publishers to the pricing they wanted. When Apple entered the market publishers stood strong and got together and got Apple to the prices on there ebook store. Amazon then was forced to raise there prices if they wanted to get the same books that Apple got. So yes as the market has grown and there are more choices the prices have gone up. The publishing industry conspired with each other to get hire prices.
    - jsnell 15y ago
      But by all accounts that spat was not about what Amazon was paying the publishers. It was about what price Amazon were allowed to sell those books at to their customers. Those are fundamentally different issues.
  - floppydisk 15y ago
    I think it's the same idea as what happened with the online music market. Initially, it was a niche market that reached a turning point when Napster hit the scene and started offering music online for free. At that point, publishers started taking action and we saw the rise of digital music stores and the complete marginalization/destruction of the previous market with low prices/easy access. In other words, Amazon had a niche market that few people competed in. Hence, price ended up being artificially low (same as the online music market in the 90s). Once people realized they could turn it into another distribution channel, competitors exploded and the price of the good adjusted to a more normalized market value. In economics, a monopoly can go one of two ways. It can either push prices to an extreme high in order to maximize profit, or it can push prices to a low in order to lock competitors out of the market and incentive the purchase of other goods (Kindles in Amazon's case). Once the monopoly broke, the price of the good normalized--which for us means it increased.

floppydisk 15y ago

It seems counter intuitive, but I think it has to do with the opening up of the ebook market. Several years ago, Amazon offered the only decent ereader in town--the Kindle. Thus, given the limited market, they could dictate price and keep the market price low because there wasn't much demand. Fast forward several years and each of the major bookstore chains offered their own ebook reader (Nook, Kobo) and tablets started offering ebook experiences--either through Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Kobo apps or the tablet creator's own ebook reader (iBooks). The market explodes in terms of the number of devices people now read on, and publishers start treating ebooks as an accepted way of offering content--with that comes the high costs in terms of marketing, promotion, post-production costs (do they do anything special for ebooks), that kind of thing.

iand 15y ago
I'm dubious about this analysis. You seem to be saying that prices were low when Amazon had a monopoly and prices have risen as competition entered the market. That's counterintuitive so perhaps I've missed something.
- WoundedMarlin 15y ago
  I am saying the prices where lower then they are now. When Amazon had a almost all the market share they were able to bully the publishers to the pricing they wanted. When Apple entered the market publishers stood strong and got together and got Apple to the prices on there ebook store. Amazon then was forced to raise there prices if they wanted to get the same books that Apple got. So yes as the market has grown and there are more choices the prices have gone up. The publishing industry conspired with each other to get hire prices.
  - jsnell 15y ago
    But by all accounts that spat was not about what Amazon was paying the publishers. It was about what price Amazon were allowed to sell those books at to their customers. Those are fundamentally different issues.
- floppydisk 15y ago
  I think it's the same idea as what happened with the online music market. Initially, it was a niche market that reached a turning point when Napster hit the scene and started offering music online for free. At that point, publishers started taking action and we saw the rise of digital music stores and the complete marginalization/destruction of the previous market with low prices/easy access. In other words, Amazon had a niche market that few people competed in. Hence, price ended up being artificially low (same as the online music market in the 90s). Once people realized they could turn it into another distribution channel, competitors exploded and the price of the good adjusted to a more normalized market value. In economics, a monopoly can go one of two ways. It can either push prices to an extreme high in order to maximize profit, or it can push prices to a low in order to lock competitors out of the market and incentive the purchase of other goods (Kindles in Amazon's case). Once the monopoly broke, the price of the good normalized--which for us means it increased.