Report: Apple to Charge Under $10 for Best-selling Ebooks

Details are emerging on Apple’s pricing plans for e-books sold for its new iPad tablet device. The $12.99 to $14.99 range often cited as a reason publishers are using to defy Amazon is seen only an “option.” Instead, the Cupertino, Calif. electronics maker would sell best-selling titles as low as the often-disparaged $9.99 price.

“Apple inserted provisions requiring publishers to discount e-book prices on best-sellers — so that $12.99-to-$14.99 range was merely a ceiling; prices for some titles could be lower than Amazon’s $9.99,” the New York Times reported Thursday.

The requirement is designed to allow Apple to discount popular e-books that initially sold for $14.99 once they reach a best-seller list. “Essentially, Apple wants the flexibility to offer lower prices for the hottest books,” the newspaper said.

Even those titles that do not make it onto a best-selling list could be discounted by Apple. If a title sells for less than the standard $26, the Cupertino, Calif. company could drop the e-book price far below $12.99, according to the report.

Even before the iPad was officially introduced, publishers embraced Apple’s vision of “agency” pricing, which they saw as an alternative to Amazon’s insistence e-books retail for $9.99. The concern was that the forced low price for electronic books would devalue printed versions in the eyes of consumers.

The New York Times report comes on the heels of an analyst’s estimation Amazon’s share of the e-book market could shrink to 35 percent by 2015, a steep drop from the online bookseller’s 90 percent in 2009.

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[Via AppleInsider and New York Times]

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