A recently released email from Steve Jobs to James Murdoch of News Corporation, which owns HarperCollins, shows just how involved the late Apple executive was in developing the agency model and increasing ebook prices. Interpretation of the email varies widely, however.
The March 15 New York Times said the Jobs email “reads as if one old sport were trying to cajole another into joining a caper.” The News Corp.–owned All Things D blog suggests that, for those who read the whole email and consider its context, “Jobs’s email doesn’t have quite the conspiratorial tone the DOJ suggests.” I have to say that, in this case, I really have to agree with the latter interpretation of the full email.
The core of the issue is one sentence where Jobs mentions numbers: “Throw in with Apple and see if we can all make a go of this to create a real mainstream ebooks market at $12.99 and $14.99.” For some, this reads as evidence supporting allegations of price fixing. But as All Things D points out, context is critical. Earlier in the same email, Jobs had referenced those same numbers more as potentials emerging from review as opposed to hard and fast figures. “We simply don’t think the ebook market can be successful with pricing higher than $12.99 or $14.99 . . . who knows maybe they are right and we will fail even at $12.99.”
Do I think that Steve Jobs had a role in the creation of the agency model and the introduction of higher ebook prices? Absolutely. But this released email also makes me question the strength of the evidence for some of the DOJ’s allegations. For me, the key point is that the invitation to “throw in with Apple” was just one of three possible scenarios that Jobs envisioned. He also acknowledged that HarperCollins could also be successful going with Amazon’s $9.99 price point. Or, he noted, HarperCollins could withdraw ebooks from Amazon as Macmillan later attempted (which, it should be noted, did not end well for the publisher).
Quite telling for libraries. Where our attention to this email should be focused is the warning Jobs gave Murdoch as part of the final option of removing books from Amazon. “Without a way for customers to buy your ebooks,” Jobs cautioned, “they will steal them.” “Trust me,” he continued, “I’ve seen this with my own eyes.”
The library community might also point out that some eager readers, if left without an easy way to borrow ebooks from libraries to try new authors or preview books before buying them, might also resort to piracy, even if unintentionally. There are an awful lot of seemingly legitimate piracy sites that sell inexpensive reading plans (and might steal your credit card information too). As the European Commission noted in a recent report on music piracy, a significant portion of illegal downloads were from people wanting to preview new music before buying. Offering readers this capability through more open ebook terms for libraries works for everyone.