"Is Government the Only Force Able to End Amazon Dominance?"

[charmian]

http://publishingperspectives.com/20...zon-dominance/

According to Betteridge's Law of Headlines, the answer is probably no, by the way.

Glaister said that without “significant government intervention, it is impossible to compete [with Amazon]. Without in-app purchasing, it is impossible for competition to flourish. The businesswoman in me wants to admire Amazon, but as a parent this dominance worries me. Does it matter if we only have one or two ebook players? Yes, because you end up with only one physical bookseller too. It’s a dystopian disaster.”

But some industry observers say that the real villain is not Amazon, but Adobe. As one senior figure put it: “Because they are the only system that anyone else can use they charge massive license feels to retailers and publishers. They are torture. They are the monopoly that exploits us in my view, not Amazon.”

[susan_cassidy]

Amazon does not have in-app purchasing on Apple devices, and they seem to be doing just fine.

[fjtorres]

All this angst over DRM that they themselves insist on.
Easier to look for scapegoats than to admit they created the "problem" and they can end it in an instant but choose not to.

[Ravensknight]

And when, EVER, has the gov't actually solved a problem without creating 52 others? Problems that didn't exist before gov't interference?

More gov't isn't the solution.

[Purple Lady]

The publishers made Amazon more dominant by their price fixing scheme. I never bought ebooks from Amazon before because I didn't like the way they locked people in and I could always buy epub elsewhere with a coupon and get it cheaper. After the price fixing I stopped buying and borrowed from the library instead. When the price fixing ended Amazon reduced their prices but Fictionwise was out of business and Kobo still didn't allow coupons. So now I do buy some ebooks from Amazon when I never would before.

[frahse]

It seems to me that the only real answer is for Amazon to assume the mantle of Governing.

Then we can have a truly cohesive flawless system.

"cradle to grave"

[jgaiser]

Those poor publishers... Being *forced*, *forced* I say, to accept that nasty DRM that Amazon requires for all of their ebooks. I can see why there is a need for Government intervention. I have seen the light. Praise Apple.

[eschwartz]

Neither Amazon nor any other ebook-seller cares about DRM, they are only doing what is necessary to make deals with the publishers who DO want it.

The thing is, Amazon is only dominant in terms of them being the only ebookstore that has any idea of what they are doing.

And I believe, though I cannot find my source again, that Amazon has offered to license their DRM scheme to other sellers, but nobody wants to. They prefer using Adobe ADEPT. I have no idea what Amazon might charge, though.

Amazon's dominance will end whenever someone else comes out with a system as well integrated as Amazon's, which "Just Works".

[Ninjalawyer]

The author of this article seems confused about a lot of things (e.g., confusing Adobe DRM with a file format, thinking Mobi is a form of DRM, etc.). This piece isn't even well-written enough to bother disagreeing with.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Neither Amazon nor any other ebook-seller cares about DRM, they are only doing what is necessary to make deals with the publishers who DO want it.

The thing is, Amazon is only dominant in terms of them being the only ebookstore that has any idea of what they are doing.

And I believe, though I cannot find my source again, that Amazon has offered to license their DRM scheme to other sellers, but nobody wants to. They prefer using Adobe ADEPT. I have no idea what Amazon might charge, though.

Amazon's dominance will end whenever someone else comes out with a system as well integrated as Amazon's, which "Just Works".

In an interview a few years back Bezos said he was willing to license the Kindle DRM to *hardware* vendors with the proviso that they had to support whispernet. This was back when few readers had wi-fi and before the switch to near-cost pricing. Not much point to it now, when all the profit lies in the books.
Amazon does cut deals to preinstall their apps on phones, tablets, and PCs. And they share ebook revenue with some retailers that carry their readers and tablets.
Which is why talk of government action against them is delusional.They have have scrupulously avoided any moves that would trigger valid legal challenges. Most notably: they don't tie consumer access to their bookstore to the purchase of their hardware.

[kennyc]

Why are people so concerned about this? Is Amazon evil? Are their books overpriced? Do they intentionally and willfully cheat the consumer and society?

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

All this angst over DRM that they themselves insist on.
Easier to look for scapegoats than to admit they created the "problem" and they can end it in an instant but choose not to.

This, wrt DRM.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

The author of this article seems confused about a lot of things (e.g., confusing Adobe DRM with a file format, thinking Mobi is a form of DRM, etc.). This piece isn't even well-written enough to bother disagreeing with.

Yep. First writers -- particularly journalists -- need to learn to research and get the facts right. I'm sick of what passes for journalism these days!

Maybe THAT'S where the government should get involved!

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Why are people so concerned about this? Is Amazon evil? Are their books overpriced? Do they intentionally and willfully cheat the consumer and society?

To the last point, yes they do. Their business model is based on tax dodging and they treat their temp staff like many companies treat staff in India etc. It is not a good trend.

[kennyc]

By that logic EVERY CORPORATION IN THE WORLD should be SHUT DOWN or controlled by THE GOVERNMENT!

and is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.