Yet another publisher is using Apple’s iPad as a negotiating tool to force Amazon to raise prices on ebooks. Amazon is “ready to sit down” to talk with HarperCollins, according to Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., owner of the publishing house.
“Apple — in its agreement with is, which has not been disclosed in detail — does allow for a variety of slightly higher prices,” Murdoch said during a recent earnings call. Although below the price for printed editions, Apple’s iBookstore ebook prices “will not be fixed in a way that Amazon has been doing it,” he added.
Although Amazon pays publishers the full price for their titles, the Seattle-based company sells the ebooks for $9.99, a decision book publishers feel devalues the worth of printed versions in the eyes of consumers.
Earlier this week, Macmillan forced Amazon to sell the publisher’s titles for $12.99 to $14.99, rather than the $9.99 the online retailer had previously required. In a statement to Kindle owners, Amazon said it had no choice but to ‘capitulate’ to the publisher, spinning the reversal as a win for smaller, alternative presses.
The showdown between Amazon and publishers over ebook pricing was presaged by earlier comments by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Speaking to Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal (owned by News Corp.), Jobs said publishers would begin balking at Amazon’s prices and eventually the Kindle and iPad would offer the same rates.
When Apple unveiled the iPad last week, both HarperCollins and Macmillan were named as publishers joining Apple’s product introduction.
[Via Murdoch transcript, 9to5Mac and AppleInsider]
