The Core

June 30, 2011 is the deadline laid down by Apple.  On that date content sellers like Amazon Kindle will no longer be able to sell you ebooks on iOS via a browser.  eBook purchases will have to be made inside the Apple login and Apple will get 30% cut. (I think I have that techy bit right.)  Small ebooksellers can't afford the 30%  fee and it is not clear that larger companies like Amazon or B&N can either.  This may explain why both are rumored to be developing their own tablets.

Should Amazon and Nook abandon iOS ebook sales this would leave Apple iBook as the only ebook reader/store.

More info:
http://www.macworld.com/article/159858/2011/05/iflowreader_app_store_ebooks.html

Of course Apple may blink but the showdown is looming.

For myself, when I bought my iPad a year ago, one of the main attractions over a dedicated device was I would have my choice of several ebook stores on one multi purpose device.  Make no mistake, use as an ebook reader is one of the main reasons I own am iPad.  If Apple's iBook store (which is mediocre at best) is the only choice then I reckon I'm going to have to either get another tablet (WebOS or Android) or a Kindle or nook reader and eat the loss. 

Somewhere there is a warning here about making an eco-system too closed.

Is this for real?  Wow, I'm so glad I didn't get tempted to buy one!

I suppose I can just buy ebooks from Amazon on my *cough* Linux laptop and then download them to the Kindle app on the iPad later but that is not what I call convenient.  it might work.  But I hate playing these games and frankly it all smacks of a high class bait and switch scheme to me. 

If you equate the App store with a retail store then 30% is a low margin. If the "producers" be it apps, ebooks etc want to sell direct to retail it will cost them much more than that. Not taking away from the fact that the Apple book store is terrible, just saying.

If you equate the App store with a retail store then 30% is a low margin

But not low for an e-commerce store, and not low for books in general (20% or less, as I understand it)

I don't think you can compare selling e-books (or normal books) with a normal retail store.

The question here is whether 30% is a practical or competitive profit margin for selling e-books online.

Even if Amazon et al agree now, it is a declaration of war of sorts, and with Android and other platforms in the majority now - and the gap likely to widen - it is a risky move.