So, what do HN recommend that Amazon do now? Or at least expect them to do.
* Leave the app as-is. (With what specific motive?)
* Jack up the prices. (Perhaps they'll include a notification when the user is on the relevant purchase page.)
* Leave the prices as-is and take the 30% hit.
* Let Apple kill the app.
I would like them to let Apple kill the app and focus on other devices and operating systems. I do not wish this due to a dislike for Apple, but rather as incentive for Apple to open up the iOS platform.
I find it a shame that there is so much focus on Apple devices due, it seems, almost exclusively the market buzz around their products. Competing platforms have similar user numbers, good technology, and far better market options as far as I am aware. That is a model I would like to see winning out over Apple's more restrictive platform.
Leave it as-is. I'm not quite sure how the power balance in the iPad ecosystem is, but if Apple needs Amazon more than Amazon needs Apple, they may be able to force a deal. Especially if Amazon communicates with its users about why the app is threatened if Apple is killing it.
Also, though, the cost isn't just the Apple surcharge. It's the cost of changing their sales and distribution system to support sales through third-parties. Basically, Apple is asking Amazon to change the way they do business. That's not a very good deal for Amazon.
I haven't fully analyzed it but my gut instinct would be to raise the prices by 30%, then explicitly state to the end user that the 30% surcharge is because of Apple. This way its transparent to the end user, and it could put some pressure on Apple to lower its fees.
Initially I thought this, but Amazon has to pass on 70% of the sale to the publisher, and with Apple taking 30%, regardless of how much the ebook was sold for, Amazon is left with nothing.
That's exactly how it works right now. There is no "in app purchasing functionality". There's just a link to Amazon's site that kicks you out to MobileSafari.
