$9.99 E-books Will Return Thanks to Popular -- and Government -- Demand

The under-$10 bestseller -- so prominent a part of the promise of e-books when they burst on the scene about five years ago -- looks to be returning soon to a screen near you.

That's the most anticipated outcome from the suit filed Wednesday by the U.S. Justice Department against Apple and five leading book publishers who, the government said, conspired to lift the price of many best-selling e-books to $12.99 to $14.99 -- after they didn't like the financial compression provided when Amazon succeeded in cutting the price of many books for its Kindle e-reader to $9.99.

While making books easier for consumers to obtain and read, of course, e-books have proved a financial challenge for traditional book publishers and authors, because they tend to flatten the industry's financial structure. But the government said, basically, "Tough!" and sided with consumers. Continue reading...