A bitter pricing dispute between Amazon.com and publisher Macmillan resulted in Amazon pulling the publisher’s books from its online store, which supplies book titles to the popular Amazon Kindle reader.
After signing a deal with Apple Inc. to become a leading publisher on Apple’s iBookstore, which would supply books to the company’s new iPad, Macmillan put pressure on Amazon to raise prices.
In turn, Macmillan chief executive John Sargent said that he was told over the weekend that the publisher’s books would be removed from Amazon.com. This week, Amazon notified customers that due to Macmillan’s demands, its online books would be sold at $14.99 but only through third party channels. All books currently cost $9.99 from Amazon, which some publishers have argued could undermine their book business.
Amazon Kindle is basically an interface that enables consumers to access electronic books and other digital media, rather than the traditional paperback or hard cover books. Kindle is currently the best-selling e-book reader.
According to Reuters, this latest policy introduced sets a precedent for the world’s largest online retailer—and its market-leading Kindle—that it would soon be challenged by publishers. One of the key features of the Kindle e-reader, introduced in 2007, has been its relatively cheap pricing for books, a key reason for its best-selling status. Currently, it faces pressure from Barnes & Noble Inc. and Sony Corp., who have made their own readers.
Some members of the publishing industry alleged that Amazon’s contract cannibalizes their regular sales, because of Amazon’s low pricing policy of e-books.
However, the e-book reader industry is experiencing its own changes, with the recent launch of the iBookstore coinciding with Apple’s latest touch screen tablet computer iPad.
GC Partners analyst Colin Gillis, in a statement, called the concession to Macmillan “just the first repercussion to Amazon’s Kindle and e-book franchise from the recently announced Apple product.”
Penguin Books, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan Publishers, and Hachette Book Group USA committed to producing content for the iBookstore. U.S. users are able to browse books online and download to their iPad with a 3-D virtual bookshelf that is personalized on their machine.
“We’ve got five of the largest publishers in the world that are supporting us in this and are going to have all of their books in the store,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said during last Wednesday’s keynote as published on its Web site. He also brazenly stated that “Amazon’s done a great job of pioneering this [e-book] functionality with the Kindle, and we’re going to stand on their shoulders … because we’ve already sold 75 million iPhones and iPod Touches, we already have 75 million people who know how to use an iPad.”
After signing a deal with Apple Inc. to become a leading publisher on Apple’s iBookstore, which would supply books to the company’s new iPad, Macmillan put pressure on Amazon to raise prices.
In turn, Macmillan chief executive John Sargent said that he was told over the weekend that the publisher’s books would be removed from Amazon.com. This week, Amazon notified customers that due to Macmillan’s demands, its online books would be sold at $14.99 but only through third party channels. All books currently cost $9.99 from Amazon, which some publishers have argued could undermine their book business.
Amazon Kindle is basically an interface that enables consumers to access electronic books and other digital media, rather than the traditional paperback or hard cover books. Kindle is currently the best-selling e-book reader.
According to Reuters, this latest policy introduced sets a precedent for the world’s largest online retailer—and its market-leading Kindle—that it would soon be challenged by publishers. One of the key features of the Kindle e-reader, introduced in 2007, has been its relatively cheap pricing for books, a key reason for its best-selling status. Currently, it faces pressure from Barnes & Noble Inc. and Sony Corp., who have made their own readers.
Some members of the publishing industry alleged that Amazon’s contract cannibalizes their regular sales, because of Amazon’s low pricing policy of e-books.
However, the e-book reader industry is experiencing its own changes, with the recent launch of the iBookstore coinciding with Apple’s latest touch screen tablet computer iPad.
GC Partners analyst Colin Gillis, in a statement, called the concession to Macmillan “just the first repercussion to Amazon’s Kindle and e-book franchise from the recently announced Apple product.”
Penguin Books, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan Publishers, and Hachette Book Group USA committed to producing content for the iBookstore. U.S. users are able to browse books online and download to their iPad with a 3-D virtual bookshelf that is personalized on their machine.
“We’ve got five of the largest publishers in the world that are supporting us in this and are going to have all of their books in the store,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said during last Wednesday’s keynote as published on its Web site. He also brazenly stated that “Amazon’s done a great job of pioneering this [e-book] functionality with the Kindle, and we’re going to stand on their shoulders … because we’ve already sold 75 million iPhones and iPod Touches, we already have 75 million people who know how to use an iPad.”
