“The focus likely would be on the higher prices that have stemmed from Apple’s approach, which has transferred to Amazon as publishers negotiate similar terms for the Kindle. Although some books for the iPad cost the same $10 as they have on the Kindle, many newer bestseller titles cost $13 to $15,” Electronista reports. “Texas may be concerned that the rejection of the Kindle’s wholesale model, where books carry a fixed pre-sales price, is artificially driving prices upwards.”
Electronista reports, “It’s not clear if the investigation, which hasn’t yet resulted in formal accusations, will make progress.”
Read more in the full article here.
Don’t these AG’s have something better to do?
Call in a Grand Jury.
If that doesn’t work, call in another.
If that doesn’t work, call in another.
If that doesn’t work, call in another………..
Investigate market manipulating practices and hedge fund shenanigans idiots- that’s where the mission lies.
What needs to be understood here is “Why?”. Amazon is based in Seattle. What motivation does the Texas AG have to pursue this?
Dell?…..
Artificially driving prices upwards simply because sellers are allowed to set their own price???? Has all common sense left America?
Guess what Mr. Texas AG…. If the prices are higher than people want to spend, publishers will won’t sell their books. Artificially holding prices down does more damage in the long run because the market has no chance to make the consensus of the masses known.
This is all about some a-hole trying to gain some notoriety by attacking a high profile company. I hope this guy is run out of office.
Dell’s HQ is located in the Austin area so is very much on the radar of Texas governmental agencies.
@dues ex technica
People in Texas buy books from iBooks and Amazon, no?
@ breeze
Amen
Other than that I am kind of split on the whole iBooks pricing thing. I DO NOT like paying more than I have to, especially for ebooks. I do not like the fact that Apple’s pricing structure is causing Amazon to raise some of their prices. And to show my displeasure I download most of my ebooks from the Kindle App instead of iBooks.
Now, that being said, I am not against publishers charging a higher price for a predeterminate amount of time for new releases. Most new releases are issued in hardcover resulting in higher prices and I would wager higher margins. That is a model we as consumers are used to
aw just give him a coupon for all the e-books on “Jeeeezuuuus” and send him on his effin’ way.
hollaluyer!!!!
How is this illegal? I don’t understand what law says this business model can’t happen.
don’t the publishers have similar contracts with their writers? why aren’t the publishers getting investigated?
Doesn’t this clown have his hands full with BP and the rest of the oil barons? He’s probably in their back pocket.
Texas: the same state that wants to re-write science and history in the classroom.
Welcome to America… Land of the free (to let idiots in public office do whatever stupid moronic fucking thing they can for political gain.
People who whine about the price of e-books being the same as paper books are being silly…
The price of books has NOTHING to do with the media the book is distributed on… Paper, optical disk, digital bits with DRM, laser etched on glass or fucking engraved on marble slabs, or sheets of polished stainless steel studded with crystal cabochons…
What you are paying for is the fucking book, dickheads. The monies mostly go to the publisher, but that’s the traditional model in the US…
Anyhow, the agent model works because it is based on the concept of supply and demand… Little demand, low price. High demand, higher price… Simple. Not even remotely unfair…
Does that mean I would sooner pay a higher price when I could get it for less? Well, it depends… Most books are just a lot of words, so If anything, i’d rather have it in a digital format and could pay whatever price I felt the actual content was worth to get it that way, even if I could get it in a pocket paperback for a fraction of the price… I don’t need more clutter in my life and the whole concept of browsing a used bookstore is not my cup o tea… On the other hand, if one bookstore had it for less, well, the cheaper one probably win out.
One word explains this insane behavior: Texas.
Amazon was subsidizing e-book prices (they made up the difference between the publishers price and $9.99) to ensure market monopoly. It seems unlikely Texas can demand that every other e-book seller take the same loss. Most likely they just want to review the books for adherence to the Texas view of reality.
It was Amazon, artificially driving prices downward.
They could have continued that business model, but it was designed to sell Kindles, and of course, that idea was sprung before the iPad.
Good luck with that one Amazon.
Ah, yes. Texas, the National Laboratory for Bad Government.
Amazon is FREE to sell the books at any price Amazon itself sets. What it pays the publishers is irrelevant.
Amazon is free to go back to its old pre-profitable business model of slashing prices until all local, small businesses are decimated, much like the Wal-Mart march, so long as that IN THE LONG RUN their WALL STREET investors make money.
Did the same AG investigate how these CARTELS destroy local economy, like when Dell shuts down a US plant after receiving local government tax breaks to find cheaper labor?
Since you have to PAID for an iPad ($500+) to even get the PRIVILEGE to buy from iBook, should AGs wait until there is an iPad consumer class action before jumping the gun? This is nothing more than Attention-Whoring, just like every other popular medium do nowadays to leverage Apple’s current popularity.
@FutureMedia
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”tongue wink” style=”border:0;” /> But Texas is a big state with a lot of people, so there is plenty of insanity to go around.
Much of the insanity is confined to east Texas. That’s where we send our best judges to deal with class action lawsuits.
We have plenty of terrible politicians in Texas who get elected on buzzword campaigning, deep pocketed special interests, and cronyism. We even manage to elevate some of them to the Presidency now and then.
Complete waste of taxpayer dollars.
It’s chic now to investigate Apple.
The world is full of aa$$oles
“Texas: the same state that wants to re-write science and history in the classroom.”
Republicans are trying to get truth back into the school books. The Dems have obliterated much of what was good about America.
iBookStore is going to end up being for independent publishers. Mainstream publishers are pricing there books too high, but independent publishers and authors will set their prices more reasonably. Since anyone can publish a book for less than $70 and set their own price, the iBookStore is going become a proving ground for budding authors trying to sell enough books so they can get some attention and land a contract with one of the major publishers.
Wow. You people act like Texas is as bad off as California.
Or Michigan.
Or Illinois.
Or New York.
What were we talking about? Incompetence?
Texas-very, very progessive. For the 1920’s.