Two days ago we brought you the breaking news that Amazon had removed publisher Macmillan’s titles from its site, as a result of an e-book price dispute. Well, the initial fracas did not last very long, as late Sunday evening, one side capitulated, according to this subscriber-only story in the Wall Street Journal:
Amazon conceded defeat Sunday evening after halting sales of all books published by Macmillan in a dispute over higher e-book prices. Having made the $9.99 e-book a fixture, Amazon now faces the prospect of raising its prices to match new terms Apple is offering publishers.
“Ultimately we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own books,” Amazon said. Amazon’s statement suggested it would resume selling Macmillan books, but didn’t offer a timeline for doing so.
Amazon’s flip-flop exposes how seriously Amazon is taking Apple’s challenge to its position as the market leader in e-book sales. It is the first of what is expected to be a series of upheavals as Amazon and Apple square off over the digital future of book publishing and retailing.
The picture is likely to get more complicated when Google Inc., the search-engine company, later this year launches its own e-bookstore, Google Editions. Google says it intends to allow publishers to set their own prices—while reserving the right to discount at its own expense.
As we said earlier: Interesting….
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