Cheaper eBooks? Yes, Please!

Sorry, not yet.

But maybe soon.

The US Government sued Apple, accusing the iPad-maker of illegal pricing practices concerning its iBooks store.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a degree in anti-trust law, so here’s a cursory explanation of what went down:

• Apple and five book publishers established a pricing scheme that would allow publishers to set their own prices.
• The consumers pays more for their book because the publishers hiked the price up to maintain profit margins after Apple’s 30% cut.
• The publishers then forced Amazon to adopt a similar model or lose their books on the Kindle platform.

So, it looks like that government might actually be fighting for us on this one.

I’m a fan of Apple products, but I’m also a Kindle user and would love cheaper eBooks. Hopefully, Uncle Sam will make that happen for us.

Do you think that the US Government will be able to force “competition,” leading to lower prices?

Would lower eBook prices make them a viable method for use among churches, seminaries, etc., or are there too many other obstacles in the way?

[via CNN & 9 to 5 Mac]

Phil Schneider

Senior Staff Writer

I'm a teacher and discipleship pastor. More importantly, I'm husband to the greatest woman in the world and father to a ridiculously cute daughter. I also occasionally scratch out a few blog posts.