I wouldn't be surprised if eBook pricing had boosted profits triple their dead tree version
I believe that's in the right ballpark. A typical ebook agreement seems to give publishers about 75% of the income from an ebook vs 25% to the author, and their ebook prices are often higher than paper book prices.
Frankly, I'm amused to see the number of people here talking about the poor, put-upon publishers, when those publishers are earning three times as much as the actual writer from an ebook sale. Couldn't posters spare a thought for those who actually wrote the book now and again?
right up and until the point where you wield monopoly power. In this case, Amazon has hit that point.
Yeah, that's true. I mean, no-one can go to a book store and buy these books, can they? Amazon have a monopoly, and there's nowhere else the publisher can sell these books if Amazon refuse to do so.
Uh, no. I don't know anyone outside the Jobs Reality Alteration Bubble who didn't see it as a blatant violation of anti-trust laws.
There are a ton of online book vendors, and Amazon's online print sales are a small fraction of the print market. The majority of books they sell these days are ebooks.
BTW, wasn't one of Hatchette's recent complaints that Amazon weren't discounting their books enough?
the question is; is it abusing a dominant market position?
How can it be in a dominant market position in something it's refusing to sell?
Re:I'd rather not use
on
Goodbye, Ctrl-S
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· Score: 4, Funny
Perhaps you've heard of a thing called a power outage.
That's where you reboot and the file is full of garbage because it crashed half-way through writing the new file to disk and the metadata was updated but not the contents, right?
Nobody is arguing that iPads are used by executives - the argument is that iPads are no good for people who actually have to do work.
Most people who actually have to do work want a laptop or desktop, not a tablet. The obvious exceptions are people who need something they can carry around and enter small amounts of data into (e.g. manufacturing workers, delivery guys), and they don't need a $1200 Windows tablet.
To be fair, Apple wouldn't be doing so well in the PC market if Microsoft hadn't screwed up Window 8 so badly. I've seen a number of people decide to get a new computer, barf when they see Window 8, and end up with a Mac instead.
So your plan for Microsoft to be successful is to give away the very products that make up 55 to 60% of their revenue? That's gold, Jerry! Gold!!
If it keeps consumers addicted to Windows, yes. They're on the verge of becoming irrelevant in the OS market if they let Apple and Google take more and more of the consumer space.
It has been obvious for a while that Microsoft is operating on a convergence strategy. In other words an interface that can accommodate multiple input paradigms.
Which is why everyone hates Window 8, because in the real world, ' an interface that can accommodate multiple input paradigms' ends up being 'an interface limited by the lowest common denominator'.
It's a dumb idea, which is why Apple and Google aren't doing it.
But will the notebook be as light to carry as this $900 device?
Who cares?
I don't remember the last time I said 'damn, I wish this laptop was smaller and lighter'. I remember the last time I said 'damn, I wish this laptop didn't have such a crappy keyboard'. I remember the last time I said 'damn, I wish this laptop didn't have such a crappy touchpad' (it was last night, in fact).
If you want portability, the Surface is already too big. I had a 10" Android tablet and it's barely been used since I bought a 7" to replace it. You're already into 'needs a bag to carry around' rather than 'fits in my pocket', so why not get a decent laptop for less?
The electronics started going off some time before the last communication with the plane. If you believe the crew were disabling them due to a fire, then you also have believe they would then just say 'goodnight' to ATC in their last communication rather than 'help, we've got a freaking fire on board'.
If you believe a short burst of toxic smoke filled the cabin and killed the crew without the same fire causing enough damage to kill everyone else and bring the plane down, you also have to believe that no-one else on board tried anything to get help, not even turning on their cell phone and trying to make a call, or picking up the satellite phone and using that.
There actually is a device, already, that can't be turned off by the crew in flight - a black box.
Is this another Anonymous Coward who knows nothing about ariliner electronics, or the same one? Why do people keep posting this crap when a few minutes' searching the web will immediately show it's untrue?
We would get the fastest and most robust internet connections available on the planet. We would get TV and phone service bundled on one wire. We would get lower monthly bills.
roads, water, electricity, bridges: all were started by government and that was the major funder.
Do you actually, really believe there were no roads and bridges before government built them? No-one anywhere thought 'hey, we could put some logs over that river and build a bridge and then we could get to the other side without wading through the water' until a government bureaucrat came along and suggested it to them?
If netflix is providing content to comcast users, then why is netflix paying comcast?
Because, as I understand it, Netflix is on a different ISP, and traffic from that ISP into Comcast is overwhelminging in the Neftlix to Comcast direction, so the usual peering arrangements based on similar levels of traffic in both directions make no financial sense.
No, the real problem was Greece lying its way into the Euro. Of course, everyone of clue knew they were lying at the time, but Germany and France were so desperate to make the Euro a 'success' that they had no interest in refusing anyone who wanted to join.
The average user sits down and in a few minutes is back to doing what they want on a Win8 system.
Ha-ha.
Ha-ha-ha.
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
Sorry, you'll have to wait a moment while I get up off the floor, where that insanely stupid statement just put me.
The average Windows user I know has no freaking clue how to do anything in Window 8, and has to go ask the 'experts', who have no freaking clue either because they don't want anything to do with that abomination. Most average users couldn't even start Notepad in Window 8 within 'a few minutes', let alone do anything useful.
Slashdot Mirror
That means that Apple had no control over pricing.
No, that presumably meant Apple's competitors couldn't sell books for less than Apple.
I wouldn't be surprised if eBook pricing had boosted profits triple their dead tree version
I believe that's in the right ballpark. A typical ebook agreement seems to give publishers about 75% of the income from an ebook vs 25% to the author, and their ebook prices are often higher than paper book prices.
Frankly, I'm amused to see the number of people here talking about the poor, put-upon publishers, when those publishers are earning three times as much as the actual writer from an ebook sale. Couldn't posters spare a thought for those who actually wrote the book now and again?
right up and until the point where you wield monopoly power. In this case, Amazon has hit that point.
Yeah, that's true. I mean, no-one can go to a book store and buy these books, can they? Amazon have a monopoly, and there's nowhere else the publisher can sell these books if Amazon refuse to do so.
Uh, no. I don't know anyone outside the Jobs Reality Alteration Bubble who didn't see it as a blatant violation of anti-trust laws.
There are a ton of online book vendors, and Amazon's online print sales are a small fraction of the print market. The majority of books they sell these days are ebooks.
BTW, wasn't one of Hatchette's recent complaints that Amazon weren't discounting their books enough?
the question is; is it abusing a dominant market position?
How can it be in a dominant market position in something it's refusing to sell?
Perhaps you've heard of a thing called a power outage.
That's where you reboot and the file is full of garbage because it crashed half-way through writing the new file to disk and the metadata was updated but not the contents, right?
Nobody is arguing that iPads are used by executives - the argument is that iPads are no good for people who actually have to do work.
Most people who actually have to do work want a laptop or desktop, not a tablet. The obvious exceptions are people who need something they can carry around and enter small amounts of data into (e.g. manufacturing workers, delivery guys), and they don't need a $1200 Windows tablet.
Failure in Windows 8 on PC doesn't mean Windows 8 isn't viable on a tablet. The tablet experience with Windows 8 IMHO is the best one out there.
But why would you want a Windows tablet if you're not running Windows on anything else?
To be fair, Apple wouldn't be doing so well in the PC market if Microsoft hadn't screwed up Window 8 so badly. I've seen a number of people decide to get a new computer, barf when they see Window 8, and end up with a Mac instead.
So your plan for Microsoft to be successful is to give away the very products that make up 55 to 60% of their revenue? That's gold, Jerry! Gold!!
If it keeps consumers addicted to Windows, yes. They're on the verge of becoming irrelevant in the OS market if they let Apple and Google take more and more of the consumer space.
It has been obvious for a while that Microsoft is operating on a convergence strategy. In other words an interface that can accommodate multiple input paradigms.
Which is why everyone hates Window 8, because in the real world, ' an interface that can accommodate multiple input paradigms' ends up being 'an interface limited by the lowest common denominator'.
It's a dumb idea, which is why Apple and Google aren't doing it.
ecause there's a difference between a convenient, generic satchel and an obvious laptop bag that screams "steal me".
Does anyone even steal laptops any more? Surely it's not worth the hassle now they're so cheap?
But will the notebook be as light to carry as this $900 device?
Who cares?
I don't remember the last time I said 'damn, I wish this laptop was smaller and lighter'. I remember the last time I said 'damn, I wish this laptop didn't have such a crappy keyboard'. I remember the last time I said 'damn, I wish this laptop didn't have such a crappy touchpad' (it was last night, in fact).
If you want portability, the Surface is already too big. I had a 10" Android tablet and it's barely been used since I bought a 7" to replace it. You're already into 'needs a bag to carry around' rather than 'fits in my pocket', so why not get a decent laptop for less?
You can. There just aren't any apps for it (OK, I guess there are a few .Net apps that don't call native code).
Besides, Windows is old-fangled and dull, whereas Metro^H^H^H^HModern is the New Shiny.
Now Linux might play some more videos
You really think Adobe will release their DRM plugin for Linux?
The electronics started going off some time before the last communication with the plane. If you believe the crew were disabling them due to a fire, then you also have believe they would then just say 'goodnight' to ATC in their last communication rather than 'help, we've got a freaking fire on board'.
If you believe a short burst of toxic smoke filled the cabin and killed the crew without the same fire causing enough damage to kill everyone else and bring the plane down, you also have to believe that no-one else on board tried anything to get help, not even turning on their cell phone and trying to make a call, or picking up the satellite phone and using that.
None of these things make sense.
There actually is a device, already, that can't be turned off by the crew in flight - a black box.
Is this another Anonymous Coward who knows nothing about ariliner electronics, or the same one? Why do people keep posting this crap when a few minutes' searching the web will immediately show it's untrue?
Which is why pilots are able to turn off the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder.
Exactly.
Oh, wait... you think they're not. Maybe you should learn something about the subjects you're posting about.
Then, after you develop your app, there aren't any users to buy it.
We would get the fastest and most robust internet connections available on the planet. We would get TV and phone service bundled on one wire. We would get lower monthly bills.
And unicorns would fly out of your butt.
roads, water, electricity, bridges: all were started by government and that was the major funder.
Do you actually, really believe there were no roads and bridges before government built them? No-one anywhere thought 'hey, we could put some logs over that river and build a bridge and then we could get to the other side without wading through the water' until a government bureaucrat came along and suggested it to them?
You really believe that?
No wonder the world is in such a mess.
If netflix is providing content to comcast users, then why is netflix paying comcast?
Because, as I understand it, Netflix is on a different ISP, and traffic from that ISP into Comcast is overwhelminging in the Neftlix to Comcast direction, so the usual peering arrangements based on similar levels of traffic in both directions make no financial sense.
No-one wants to be forced to use Sinclair Microdrives :).
Besides which, there were far less classic games for the QL than the Spectrum.
No, the real problem was Greece lying its way into the Euro. Of course, everyone of clue knew they were lying at the time, but Germany and France were so desperate to make the Euro a 'success' that they had no interest in refusing anyone who wanted to join.
The average user sits down and in a few minutes is back to doing what they want on a Win8 system.
Ha-ha.
Ha-ha-ha.
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
Sorry, you'll have to wait a moment while I get up off the floor, where that insanely stupid statement just put me.
The average Windows user I know has no freaking clue how to do anything in Window 8, and has to go ask the 'experts', who have no freaking clue either because they don't want anything to do with that abomination. Most average users couldn't even start Notepad in Window 8 within 'a few minutes', let alone do anything useful.