Amazon New York signs e-book deal with distributor Ingram
updated 10:08 pm EDT, Wed August 29, 2012
Ingram services Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo stores
Amazon Publishing's New York arm has signed a deal with media vendor Ingram to distribute its ebooks through other sales venues. CoreSource, Ingram's digital distribution channel, will distribute the ebook rights to Barnes and Noble, Apple, and Kobo. Although e-books are "supplied" by Ingram, the choice remains with the vendor if it chooses to supply Amazon-published e-books.
Phil Ollila, Ingram Content Group’s chief content officer said "We welcome Amazon Publishing’s New York adult group to the growing list of publishers who use our service." The deal is only with Amazon Publishing's New York brand -- the California division isn't making any titles available for distribution.
Amazon and Apple remain at odds in a lawsuit brought by the US Department of Justice in regards to e-book pricing. The complaint accuses Apple of colluding with publishers by both requiring a switch to an agency model, where publishers set the prices and ask for more, as well as demanding "most favored nation" status where no rival could have a lower price than the iBookstore.
DOJ officials are primarily concerned that Apple's e-book deal, made ahead of the iPad launch, is keeping e-book prices artificially high. Apple has asserted that Amazon had near-monopoly market share of e-books at the start of 2010 and that the pricing change helped level competition, not just for Apple's iBookstore but for Barnes & Noble's Nook Store and other digital peers. Amazon was regularly accused of "price dumping", selling books below cost to squeeze out competitors that couldn't afford to lose money. The trial is scheduled for June 3, 2013.
Junior Member
Joined: 07-25-06
DOJ officials are primarily concerned that Apple's e-book deal, made ahead of the iPad launch, is keeping e-book prices artificially high.
No, the DOJ lawyers simply went off half-cocked, after conversations with almost no one in publishing or retail book sales but Amazon. Like virtually every official in the Obama administration, they thought they had discovered a politically useful way to stir up some hate--in this case book buyers against the major publishers. That hasn't proved to be the case, since virtually everyone from impoverished writers to your local bookstore can see the insanity of this lawsuit. The result has been a DOJ stubbornly and increasingly resistant to the facts.
The primary fact: Suing Apple, which had 0% of the ebook market at the time of their alleged crimes and doing nothing about Amazon, which had at the time 90% of the market is almost a law textbook definition of stupid (or corrupt). As an illustration, you might ask yourself:
As a writer, November 7 can't come soon enough for me. On that date, I get to vote these clowns out of office. On that date, we all get a chance to restore competence and good sense to our federal government. We all get a chance to get rid of this sort of Chicago-machine politics that rewards one business (Amazon) and persecutes another (Apple).