As iPad launch nears, Amazon cuts more deals with publishers |
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As iPad launch nears, Amazon cuts more deals with publishers
Just days before Apple's iPad hits the market, Amazon.com is caving to more publishers on the pricing of electronic books. The online retail giant just cut deals with Simon & Schuster (owned by CBS) and HarperCollins (part of News Corp.), allowing the two publishing houses to set higher e-book prices, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Under the new terms, digital versions of most best-sellers will sell for $12.99 to $14.99, according to the Journal. Those are the same terms that Apple is offering publishers for e-books on the iPad.
Amazon early on set a $9.99 price for new release and best-selling titles for its Kindle reader, which irked many publishers who thought the discount would erode the value of books in the minds of consumers. Now Apple's entry into the e-book market has emboldened many publishers to seek new terms from Amazon on retail prices.
Amazon in January got into a well-publicized scrap with publisher Macmillan over the pricing issue, prompting Amazon to briefly remove all Macmillan books from its digital shelves. But the online retailer later conceded that it would have to "capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles."
That set the stage for more publishers to renegotiate with Amazon.
It looks like Amazon is capitulating to some of the big publishers on pricing terms while playing hardball with smaller publishing houses in an effort to keep the $9.99 standard on as many titles as possible.
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