[Infowarrior] - Amazon Concedes on Electronic Book Pricing

[Richard Forno]

February 1, 2010
Amazon Concedes on Electronic Book Pricing
By BRAD STONE and MOTOKO RICH
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/technology/companies/01amazonweb.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

In a fight over the price of electronic books, Amazon.com has blinked.

On Friday, Amazon.com shocked the publishing world when it pulled both  
the digital and physical books of Macmillan, the large international  
publisher, after Macmillan said it planned to begin setting higher  
prices for its e-books. Until now, Amazon has been setting e-book  
prices itself, and has established $9.99 as the common price for new  
releases and best-sellers.

But in a message to its customers posted to its Web site on Sunday  
afternoon, Amazon said that while it strongly disagreed with  
Macmillan’s stance, it would concede to the publisher.

“We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our  
disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles,”  
Amazon said. “We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will  
have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has  
a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to  
you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books.”

The message went on to suggest that Amazon customers may rebel against  
such a high price for books that cost far less to distribute than  
physical books. “

We don’t believe that all of the major publishers will take the same  
route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses  
and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide  
attractively priced e-books as an alternative,” Amazon’s online  
message said.

Macmillan officials were not immediately reached for comment on Sunday.