According to Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the current lawsuit against Apple and other e-book publishers “could wipe out the publishing industry as we know it.” The Wall Street Journal ran Schumer’s editorial on Tuesday.
The Department of Justice is targeting Apple, Hachette, Harper Collins, Macmillan, Penguin, Pearson, and Simon & Schuster for “allegedly colluding to fix e-book prices,” reports Ars Technica.
“If publishers, authors and consumers are at the mercy of a single retailer that controls 90 percent of the market and can set rock-bottom prices, we will all suffer,” comments Schumer in reference to Amazon, which led the e-book market until Apple’s introduction of the iPad and iBookstore.
“Choice is critical in any market, but that is particularly true in cultural markets like books,” he adds. “The prospect that a single firm would control access to books should give any reader pause.”
When it launched its bookstore in 2010, Apple decided to go with an “agency model,” which “allowed them to set their own prices for e-books,” explains Ars Technica.
The article further notes that “Amazon’s wholesale model allowed the company to sell e-books at prices below cost, a strategy that irked publishers because they felt Amazon was undercutting their prices and devaluing their products in the marketplace. Throughout 2010, publishers pushed Amazon to switch to the agency model as well, and eventually, it did.”
“As our economy transitions to digital platforms, we should be celebrating and supporting industries that find ways to adapt and grow,” writes Schumer. “By developing a pricing model that made e-book sales work for them, publishers did just that.”
“I am concerned that the mere filing of this lawsuit has empowered monopolists and hurt innovators,” he suggests. “I believe it will have a deterrent effect not only on publishers but on other industries that are coming up with creative ways to grow and adapt to the Internet.”
According to Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the current lawsuit against Apple and other e-book publishers “could wipe out the publishing industry as we know it.” The Wall Street Journal ran Schumer’s editorial on Tuesday.
No Comments Yet
You can be the first to comment!
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.