At the time, Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ remark about ebook pricing being the same whether sold by Cupertino or Amazon seemed rather optimistic. At the time, Amazon controlled ebook pricing and the ebook market, while Apple had just released the iPad. However, just weeks after the tablet was unveiled, Amazon will now adopt Apple’s price structure when the iPad starts shipping in March.
“By agreeing to accept a new pricing model, Amazon has publicly acknowledged the sudden emergence of a rival that may not only threaten its highly popular Kindle franchise but also its total domination of e-books,” the Wall Street Journal reported this weekend.
Amazon has also finalized new pricing for Macmillan, the first publisher to throw its weight behind Apple and against the giant online book-seller. Hachette Book Group and HarperCollins quickly followed MacMillan’s lead, voicing displeasure with Amazon’s $9.99 pricing and advocating for Apple’s more flexible $12.99 to $14.99 “agency” model.
The deal with Macmillan will “set the stage” for future agreements likely to transform the ebook industry, according to the report. When Amazon first removed the publisher’s books, it said it would “ultimately” have to give in to the company’s demands, perhaps acknowledging changes were likely in the wings. Following the weekend agreement, Macmillan ebooks were back on Amazon’s virtual shelves.
The quickness of changes in the ebook industry has been breath-taking. One day after the iPad was unveiled, Macmillan CEO John Sargent flew to Amazon’s Seattle headquarters to talk “new terms of sales for ebooks.” Days later, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., which owns HarperCollins, said Amazon was “ready to sit down” to renegotiate ebook pricing. Friday, Hachette became the latest to join the iPad bandwagon and question Amazon’s dominance.
Random House, the only major publisher that hasn’t pushed for an ebook pricing overhaul is said to be “studying the matter.”
[Via AppleInsider and Wall Street Journal]
