iPhone App Store Peddles eBooks

July 22, 2008 in Apple, Software & Apps

Anyone perousing eBay visiting the interwebz has seen the Mary Poppins bag of eBooks for free and for sale for everything from Shakespeare to How To Make Money Online Selling eBooks. That last title is part of the eBook problem - these products are digital and therefore copied with ease and effortlessly spread, pushed and marketed.

AppEngines LLC has taken a unique approach on profiting from eBooks… the iPhone. Well after an author’s book passes away, their literature enters the public domain, meaning it is not owned my any entity or corporation but rather is a piece of public knowledge. AppEngines LLC reformats these books for appearance/reading on the iPhone, selling them for $1 a pop.

To be honest, the idea is simple and witty. Get the product for free, alter it slightly and sell it. You can’t beat 100% profit margins! As the first eBook distributor for the iPhone, I suppose the offering can be viewed as a valuable service that people will truly appreciate. The problem is, what is to stop 10,000 people from copying this same model and having the iPhone App Store becoming overrun with identical eBooks, transforming it from a unique offering to a spammy get rich quick scheme?

Nothing (as far as we can tell). In fact, this same problem had run rampant on eBay until they decided to BAN the sale/auction of digital products and ebooks earlier in 2008. Sellers have found their way around that ban by burning their eBooks to CD-ROM and selling that as a physical product. So how will the iPhone respond if eBook sellers attempt to trample the competition?

Good question… we’ll be watching.

[Via BoingBoing]

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