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"In the wake of the Department of Justice lawsuit against Apple and book publishers over ebook pricing, Amazon is in a renewed position of strength. Emboldened by Wednesday's news, the online retailer has already made plans to lower ebook prices.\nIn an emailed statement, Amazon said \"[The settlement] is a big win for Kindle owners. We look forward to being allowed to lower prices on more Kindle books.\"\nAmazon used to sell most ebooks \u2014 including major titles and best-sellers \u2014 for $9.99. However, after five major publishers made an agreement with Apple on ebook pricing that specified other platforms couldn't undersell Apple, Amazon was forced to raise prices, and many books began selling for $14.99.\nNow it looks like $9.99 could become the norm again. At that price, it's widely known that Amazon is selling ebooks at a loss in a broad strategy to cement its Kindle ereaders and tablets as the dominant ereading platform.\nDoes it need to keep doing that, though? Amazon's market share among ereaders is already dominant. Numbers from last fall show it almost doubling Barnes &amp; Noble's Nook platform, and that was before the release of the new Kindles during the holiday season. In the ebook market, Amazon holds a commanding lead with a 60% share.\n\nSEE ALSO: How Steve Jobs Got Apple Into Trouble Over Ebooks\nRegardless, price-cutting ebooks appears to be Amazon's plan, and it has publishers and retailers worried. While lower prices certainly benefit consumers, if consumers increasingly turn to Amazon's ebooks instead of brick-and-mortar retailers, more bookstores will be forced out of business.\nIn the government's lawsuit, Penguin USA CEO David Shanks was quoted as saying, \"I am now more convinced that we need a viable alternative to Amazon or this nonsense will continue and get much worse.\u201D\nWhat do you think of Amazon's plan to lower ebook pricing? Great news for consumers, or the beginning of the end of the publishing industry as we know it?\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, theasis"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/04/12/amazon-lower-ebook-prices/>