The Department of Justice of the United States opened an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five American publishers because of the prices charged for ebooks. Two years ago, companies are being investigated for having changed its business model, forming a possible cartel, hinder competition in the industry and causing a significant increase in prices across the industry of digital books.
In the business model used before the arrival of Apple, publishers often sell digital versions of their books at half the price charged in the print edition. The store decided how much profit would then subcontracted the consumer price. Without the need to print or carry tons of paper, the cost was reduced and yields were higher.
Since 2010, with the launch of the iPhone, the market had to adapt to Apple's business model, where the publishers themselves choose how much to charge and 30% of the revenue generated by sales are compulsorily transferred to the store. As the publishers control values, the natural competition between stores was difficult and prices have increased. In Brazil it is not difficult to find digital books more expensive than physical books, which is absurd.
In his biography by Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs says:
"We told the editors, 'We will adopt the agency model, where you set the price and we have our 30%, and yes, the customer will pay a little more, but anyway this is what you want.
They went to Amazon and said, 'Either you sign an agency contract or we no longer supply our books.' "
The U.S. government is considering a deal that could allow an anticompetitive clauses Apple is clearing, where publishers need to provide their books at prices lower than those offered to competing stores. Amazon.com, a leader in the digital book market that generated revenues of $ 969.9 million in 2011, may also return to its original business model.
In the business model used before the arrival of Apple, publishers often sell digital versions of their books at half the price charged in the print edition. The store decided how much profit would then subcontracted the consumer price. Without the need to print or carry tons of paper, the cost was reduced and yields were higher.
Since 2010, with the launch of the iPhone, the market had to adapt to Apple's business model, where the publishers themselves choose how much to charge and 30% of the revenue generated by sales are compulsorily transferred to the store. As the publishers control values, the natural competition between stores was difficult and prices have increased. In Brazil it is not difficult to find digital books more expensive than physical books, which is absurd.
In his biography by Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs says:
"We told the editors, 'We will adopt the agency model, where you set the price and we have our 30%, and yes, the customer will pay a little more, but anyway this is what you want.
They went to Amazon and said, 'Either you sign an agency contract or we no longer supply our books.' "
The U.S. government is considering a deal that could allow an anticompetitive clauses Apple is clearing, where publishers need to provide their books at prices lower than those offered to competing stores. Amazon.com, a leader in the digital book market that generated revenues of $ 969.9 million in 2011, may also return to its original business model.
