Amazon.com has struck deals with book publishers Simon & Schuster and
HarperCollins that could potentially raise the price of ebooks, according to
online reports, days before Apple releases its iPad tablet PC. Amazon’s Kindle
e-reader faces a potentially substantial competitor in iPad’s e-text feature.
According to an April
1 article in The Wall Street Journal, Amazon is also in discussions with
Hachette Book Group and Penguin Group over letting publishers choose the price points
for ebooks. Under the terms of the reported agreement, digital offerings from
Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins will likely drift from Amazon’s previous
$9.99 ceiling into a range between $12.99 and $14.99.
The news comes on the
eve of the iPad’s April 3 release. Although unconfirmed by Apple, rumors
have circulated for weeks that the company is in intensive discussions with a
variety of content producers, ranging from television studios to book
publishers, to port specially modified content onto the tablet. Unlike the
Kindle and other e-readers, which use grayscale e-ink screens to display text, the
iPad’s 9.7-inch screen will be capable of displaying full color and more
complex layouts.
Sony also indicated to the WSJ that it will begin making changes to its own
ebook pricing in coming days.
At the end of January, Amazon confronted Macmillan, which wanted to raise
the prices of popular titles such as “Wolf Hall” from $9.99 to between $12.99
and $14.99, by temporarily yanking the publisher’s ebooks.
“We will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan
has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you
even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books,” Amazon.com wrote in
a Jan. 31 statement about the issue. “Amazon customers will at that point
decide for themselves whether they believe it’s reasonable to pay $14.99 for a
bestselling e-book.”
Reports from February, though, indicated that Apple was approaching book
publishers to negotiate over all matters ebook, including the possibility of
price increases or discounts in response to market events. Early
previews of the iPad’s iBookstore indicated that most books are priced at $9.99,
with a few titles costing up to $12.99.
Although Amazon’s Kindle line of e-readers proved to be a hit of the holiday
2009 shopping season, the online retailer’s willingness to negotiate with
booksellers over higher prices indicates a desire to not be outflanked by Apple
with regard to book selection. Analysts have predicted that the iPad will be a
major seller upon its release, estimating some 120,000 units sold on its first
day of preorder availability.
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