iPad and its iBooks store are leading Amazon to play hardball in negotiations with publishers. Apple’s plan to allow publishers to choose their price for iBooks destined for the iPad is in direct odds with Amazon’s system where Kindle books are available for a set price.
In a report for trade website Publishers Marketplace, Michael Cader suggests that Amazon is threatening to remove publishers from the Kindle ebook store and Amazon as a whole if they insist on pushing for the same flexible pricing deal as Apple is offering for iPad iBooks.
Amazon has told publishers they are negotiating with Macmillan, Hachette, Penguin and Simon & Schuster who have already done deals with Apple to bring books to the iPad but won’t discuss similar terms for other companies.
Cader reports that independent publishers are planning to make a stand against Amazon and its Kindle pricing strategy. He suggests that they will move towards Apple, the iPad and the iBook store instead.
Google is also apparently discussing a similarly flexible deal as the one offered by Apple with the iPad and iBook store for its forthcoming Google Editions ebook store.
Amazon looks likely to launch a Kindle iPad app but will it have the books to battle Apple and the iBook store if it continues to fight with the publishers over pricing? How much do you think an ebook should cost?
Out now | £varies | Amazon (via Daring Fireball)
