Rivalry in the eBooks (iBooks!) market

There has been a lot of debate over where Apple ipad fits in. However the publishers surely know where it fits in as implied by revolt of Macmillan. Excerpts from the article:

Just days after the wraps were taken off the iPad, Macmillan informed Amazon it wanted to begin charging between 12.99 and 14.99 dollars for e-book versions of most hardcover new releases and bestsellers.

Some interesting points worth debating:

1. Apple complained about Google entering its core market with Android. Google CEO Eric Schmidt's resignation from Apple board and Steve Jobs statement elucidates increase in rivalry. It seems with iBooks from Apple, Google vs Apple rivalry will dominate the Google vs Microsoft rivalry.

2. It remains to be seen if Google and Amazon will partner forgetting earlier rivalry considering Apple is attracting a lot of publishers.

3. Last but not the least, in a two sided network, there is a subsidy side. With the publishers like Macmillan revolting and demanding higher price for their titles, it remains to be seen how Amazon walks the tightrope of not annoying Kindle users (A reader will not like to pay $14.99 when he is used to pay $9.99 for an ebook).