Amazon is allowed to sell product at such a low price that it is losing money every quarter. And doing so if kills its competitors (good bye Broders, Barnes and Nobles being the next). Consumer may be happy to see lower prices in a short term. In the longer term wham only Amazon will have survived it will be another story.
Add Geeks.com to the list. They shuttered door pointing finger at amazon.com. See their web site.
Now looks like overstock.com is going nuclear on Amazon on books. Promising to undercut amazon by 10% on any book overstock sells. Even if that means driving the price to 9 cents. Go kill each other boys.
A good argument- but it is backwards. The DOJ is not responsible for ensuring profits in an industry are so high that many people choose to enter it. I do not make PC's for a living, because prices are too low and I don't believe I could make a lot of money doing it. Is it the DOJ's job to go after PC manufacturers and ensure they drive prices way up so that I can start making them? No.
PC's have open standards that have driven prices way down and many people who used to make PC's no longer do. They could not compete.
Amazon makes money selling ebooks. They do sell some titles below cost. That is allowed. Amazons prices are low and many people are finding they do not want to or simply can not compete. That is fine. They hypothetically proposed danger often used is that Amazon would eliminate all competition and then jack book prices sky high with their monopoly. The problem with that argument is that
1) it did not happen and 2) it could not happen. That scenario only can occur in industries with high barriers to entry-like Steel or semiconductor manufacturing.
If Amazon did mysteriously jack prices up overnight:
1) It would likely be much much less than 30%- so even if they did it would be more beneficial to consumers than the market under Apples scheme.
2) If they did raise their prices the DOJ and consumers would be all over them immediately
3) With no barriers to entry, if prices were higher, anyone with server infrastructure could immediately get back in the business
Apple's scheme was implemented- and prices jumped 30% overnight for the exact same product.
The DoJ stepped in.
What happened to the ebook market? Is it collapsing? No, competition is actually growing and prices have actually come down to below the starting point. Google books is becoming a player. Apple books is a player and even making money selling titles for $7.99 Are all these companies competing to see who can lose the most money? Nope. They are making money. Obviously Apple would be much happier to game the system and charge consumers nearly double that, but they got caught and thwarted.
I do think the DOJ's proposed terms are overreaching. They need to determine damages (and it is substantial- driving prices up 30% for the entire book market for a substantial period is not a small thing). The DOJ could opt to triple damages because the intent was willful- but I think even that would be borderline. The other option would be to allow the doors to swing open and let states and consumers sue individual or via class action similar to what they did with tobacco companies.
Telling Apple how to run their business is overreaching. Telling them they can't engage in certain behaviors is fair game.
If the headline is a reflection of Apple's attitude... "Apple dismisses DOJ's proposed penalty...." then I think Apple is in serious trouble and this is only going to get worse for them
Apple's scheme?
Barnes and Noble testified that they were negotiating an agency model with the publishers before Apple even came on the scene, testimony the judge apparently ignored by declaring Apple the "leader".
Welcome to United Socialist State of America (USSA) where government try to operate business by themselves. They think they know better how price of goods should be and try dictate people to produce and sell in their way. Some says they will fall like USSR in the future, I don't believe that but now I'm in doubt.
I can already easily compare price on the bookstores for iBooks, Kindle, and Nook. I don't bother with Nook much because either in iBookstore or Amazon Kindle have most titles I have sought. As readers go, I think Kindle and Nook are inferior to iBooks. I only wish iBooks had more titles. I don't see how the DOJ's penalties achieve this. The DOJ obviously doesn't understand the ebook market. Let's hope that Apple appeal is successful.
Sounds like Jeff Bezos paid someone at the DOJ enough to get a judgement like this or had enough influence to get this done. How else has Amazon avoided it's own anti-trust suit from the DOJ - you can't tell me that no one has ever complained to the DOJ about their anti-competitive behavour.
Then this week buying the Washington Post - very interesting. More influence in Washington.
Comments
Add Geeks.com to the list. They shuttered door pointing finger at amazon.com. See their web site.
Now looks like overstock.com is going nuclear on Amazon on books. Promising to undercut amazon by 10% on any book overstock sells. Even if that means driving the price to 9 cents. Go kill each other boys.
Apple's scheme?
Barnes and Noble testified that they were negotiating an agency model with the publishers before Apple even came on the scene, testimony the judge apparently ignored by declaring Apple the "leader".
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
If the choices are:
1) Post on AI since I have nothing better to do;
2) Do nothing since I have nothing better to do;
3) Educate people like you....
...it's fairly obvious that my life is better off with: [YOU CHOOSE]
Grow up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
Sorry, but #3 is an impossibility. Some people are just undeducable and Crowley appears to be one of them.
You too. What a ridiculous and moronic piece of self indulgent posturing. Argue the point, not the person.
Some says they will fall like USSR in the future, I don't believe that but now I'm in doubt.
Then this week buying the Washington Post - very interesting. More influence in Washington.
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