Amazon and Apple are under investigation by a US attorney general over the pricing of eBooks. Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal revealed late yesterday he was looking into agreements about the sale of e-books that "may block competitors from offering cheaper e-book prices", saying they "appear to deter certain publishers from offering discounts to Amazon and Apple’s competitors - because they must offer the same to Amazon and Apple". According to Blumenthal:
These agreements among publishers, Amazon and Apple appear to have already resulted in uniform prices for many of the most popular e-books - potentially depriving consumers of competitive prices.
The e-book market is set to explode - with analysts predicting that e-book readers will be among the holiday season’s biggest electronic gifts - warranting prompt review of the potential anti-consumer impacts.
Amazon and Apple combined will likely command the greatest share of the retail e-book market, allowing their most-favored-nation clauses to effectively set the floor prices for the most popular e-books. Such agreements - especially when offered to two of the largest e-book retail competitors in the United States - threaten to encourage coordinated pricing and discourage discounting.
Full story at The Bookseller.
