Related posts:
Connecticut Attorney General Initiates Agency Model eBook Price-Fixing Inquiry
By Stephen Windwalker, Editor of Kindle Nation Daily ©Kindle Nation Daily 2010
I’ve just posted a rather shocking comparison of bestselling ebook prices in the UK and US Kindle stores, in the post linked below:
UK Kindle Store Prices Much Cheaper Without Agency Model
Could it be that today’s grand opening of the UK Kindle Store
will be the beginning of the end for the dastardly “agency model” price-fixing scheme that Apple’s Steve Jobs and five of the U.S. “Big Six” publishers cooked up to try to foist price increases of 30 to 50 per cent on U.S. ebook customers? With multiple stateside government prosecutors and regulators becoming increasingly inquisitive about that anti-trust odor that seems to be emanating from various Apple ventures, the worm could turn when said inquisitors get a look at prices in the UK Kindle store.
will be the beginning of the end for the dastardly “agency model” price-fixing scheme that Apple’s Steve Jobs and five of the U.S. “Big Six” publishers cooked up to try to foist price increases of 30 to 50 per cent on U.S. ebook customers? With multiple stateside government prosecutors and regulators becoming increasingly inquisitive about that anti-trust odor that seems to be emanating from various Apple ventures, the worm could turn when said inquisitors get a look at prices in the UK Kindle store.Those UK prices, of course, have not been driven skyward by any so-called “agency model” schemes, since UK and other European citizens receive far greater protection against business anti-competition practices than is the norm in the US. So it may be a bit of a control case, if you will, when the attorneys general of Texas and Connecticut, among others, see UK-US price comparisons like these for the top 12 bestselling titles in the UK Kindle store.
It’s almost enough to make an avid stateside reader think about laying down a few quid for a wee cottage across the pond! Or, short of that, a fancy Sussex address for the post!
The patterns hold true across the board. Worth a look, Barrister Blumenthal?
