> They want the lowest price that they can comfortably take their 30% profit from. I don't think this is an accurate characterization. Apple [apparently; I hav

> They want the lowest price that they can comfortably take their 30% profit from. I don't think this is an accurate characterization. Apple [apparently; I have no inside view of their pricing policies] is happy to sell a 99 cent song, and is perfectly happy to feature free e-books. What they did NOT want is to sell a book for $9.99 while paying the publisher $12.50. Of course, a free e-Book is also effectively sold below cost by Apple, but that's as far as their flexibility goes.