Amazon Concedes Defeat in eBook Row with Macmillan

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At last, a news item that will prove to be not in the least controversial.

Amazon has conceded that it will have to give in to Macmillan in a row over the pricing of ebooks that saw the publisher's titles removed from the retailer's virtual shelves this weekend.

After a meeting between the two parties on Thursday ended in deadlock, Amazon stripped books from Macmillan – including Hilary Mantel's Man Booker prizewinner, Wolf Hall – from its website in the US.

In a posting on its site, Amazon said the talks stumbled over Macmillan's push to switch to a pricing model where $12.99 to $14.99 is charged for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases. Amazon, which has long been under fire from the publishing community for selling ebook bestsellers at $9.99, sought to paint Macmillan as the pricing tyrant.

"We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for ebooks," the online retailer added.

From Amazon concedes defeat in ebook row with Macmillan | Technology | guardian.co.uk

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Prices will continue to drop on E's, no matter what MacMillan does. They will find themselves losing market share if their titles are pricier than others.