It appears that Amazon.com's pricing model for electronic books -- just under $10 -- is on its way to becoming the norm. Barnes & Noble, on its eReader site, is now offering digital versions of New York Times bestsellers for $9.95, just a hair cheaper than Amazon's standard $9.99 for such books. The downward pressure on e-book pricing has rattled many book publishers.
As Fast Company wrote recently, Amazon with e-books is following the strategy of Apple with digital music, creating a "sticky price in consumers' minds" that, once established, is difficult to dislodge -- and gives Amazon more leverage in negotiations with publishers. Barnes & Noble apparently sees some value in jumping on that bandwagon. I've asked the company for more information on its e-book pricing changes.
Barnes & Noble has been steadily ramping up its electronic book strategy, buying Fictionwise (the firm behind eReader) in March, and announcing plans to develop its own e-bookstore. B&N is also rumored to be working on its own electronic reading device along the lines of Amazon's Kindle.
This week, Barnes & Noble unveiled a new shopping application for the iPhone. The app has a feature that lets users snap photos of book covers with their iPhone camera and get pricing and other product details -- which is similar to technology developed by Snaptell, a startup just acquired by Amazon.
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