AMAZON CONTINUE TALKS OVER EBOOK PRICES

Amazon are secretly in talks with publishers over the pricing of eBooks - and whilst Amazon should not have control over pricing, the proposals for the set price that publishers want is too high for a virtual book and will only encourage readers to illegally download books. If the consumer feel they are being ripped off, and they are if they are expected to pay the same price for a digital book as a real one. Downloading illegally is morally wrong but then so is publishers expecting readers to pay the same price for a block of electronic code as they would for a brand spanking new hardcover. The answer seems obvious - eBooks should be priced at the same level as a paperback.


Here is the latest news courtesy of Bloomberg.


Amazon.com Inc., the world’s largest Internet retailer, is in talks to change some prices of Kindle e-books by no later than the April 3 release of Apple Inc.’s iPad, two people with knowledge of the discussions said.

Amazon.com is talking to publishers individually about giving them more control over prices, said the people, who declined to be identified because the negotiations aren’t public. Publishers said they want to be able to set the prices of e-books, with most new titles costing $12.99 to $14.99, compared with $9.99 currently.

As the iPad tablet computer and rivals to the Kindle arrive on the market, publishers have more power to influence the price of their books, according to Fred Moran, a Benchmark analyst in Boca Raton, Florida. Apple will let publishers set their own pricing on the iPad, people familiar with the agreement said earlier this year.

Drew Herdener, a spokesman at Seattle-based Amazon.com, declined to comment.

Amazon.com is still setting prices for many of the books it sells for the Kindle even after agreeing in January to Macmillan’s request to be allowed to determine what it will charge readers, according to the people.

Amazon.com is in talks with publishers about prices and has threatened to stop direct online sales of printed books from some of them unless they make concessions on e-books, the New York Times reported earlier, citing two unidentified industry executives with knowledge of the discussions. The retailer wants them to sign three-year contracts and guarantee that no rival will get lower prices or better terms, the newspaper said.

Market Share

Amazon.com held a 90 percent share of the e-book sales market last year, according to a Feb. 16 report from Credit Suisse Group AG. New devices from Apple and others including IRex Technologies BV will pare the share to 72 percent this year, Credit Suisse said.