Amazon Battles Apple By Arm-Twisting Publishers

bizwriter writes "Apple has upset the e-book pricing cart by agreeing to a so-called agency model, where the publisher sets the price and the seller takes a cut. This goes contrary to the degree of control Amazon likes, so although it apparently gave in to Macmillan back in February, it turns out that Amazon continues twisting arms. The problem publishers face is that Apple has a most-favored-nation clause, so it gets the best deal that the publishers offer. If the publishers give in to Amazon, then they also have to provide the same terms to Apple."

Comments

Re:This is unexpected, how?

[droopycom]

The RIAA, MPAA and other bad guys seems to often get bad press for trying to deal with "digital" or "IP" products in the same way we deal with physical products.

On the other hand, what we have here is a buyer doing the same thing, applying terms such as "buying" or "renting" to digital products and trying to relate them to the same terms as applied to physical products.

Both consumer and publisher should understand that old rules do not apply, and new rules needs to be made when dealing with digital product.

You cannot BUY an e-book in the same sense that you can buy an apple. Deal with it.