This Amazon Kindle customer will buy very few ebooks priced above $9.99 – only books of special interest to me that are somewhat rare.

Hurrah for experimenting with a variety of models. However the idea of an exclusive digital edition at a higher price for a few weeks seems to me to appeal to people who read to SAY they have read something (the equivalent of having shelves of books for display), as opposed to your hardcore reader who reads a LOT, has less money, and has delighted in the Kindle because it opens up a world of choice and discovery that is actually affordable. Apple seems to not give a crap about this hardcore reader — like me.

I fear a price war that makes it harder for us readers on a limited or fixed income.

I’m eager to hear your next podcast.

BUT, here’s the rub. What’s to stop MacMillan et als from using the same agency model to sell paper books as well? What makes this limited to ebooks? If I’m right, then we can expect to see a major price increas across the board on ALL Amazon books. Won’t THAT set the world atwitter.

And all this in a time of recession. I still don;t see how this is NOT anti-trust.
Rick Askenase

It makes no sense for Amazon to make a threatening move and then cave immediately. If they’re ready to cave that quickly, why make the move?

Is it possible that the whole thing was a staged? I took Jobs’ comment that “the prices will be the same” to mean just that – it was known in advance. The only problem with that conspiracy theory is that Amazon people come off looking like total idiots. If they planned the whole thing to raise prices, you would think they would have done a better job of it.

Maybe it’s just what happens in many organizations. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the Boss saying, “Now what do we do?” after a bad move.

Love your stuff.

Good Luck!