Amazon: Pay per Page?

Amazon.com is attempting to capitalize on the "iTunes model." Two new services will accommodate this attempt. The first is Amazon Pages, which will allow customers to buy books "inexpensively" by the chapter or other segment, instead of purchasing the whole book. Amazon Upgrade is the second service, which basically allows people to access online the content they've purchased.

In an article by Jonathan Berr on TheStreet.com, CEO Jeff Bezos says: "Amazon Pages and Amazon Upgrade leverage Amazon's existing Search Inside the Book technology to give customers unusual flexibility in how they buy and read books."

Um... ok, but guess what? Flexibility doesn't mean buying the last chapter of the Harry Potter book. The reason iTunes worked for Apple is because purchasing by the song catered to how music was being consumed... people often only liked one song on an album, and didn't want to buy the whole thing. But people don't consume books in the same way...

Granted, for some genres this might work, but overall, I think Amazon Upgrade is the service to pay attention to, not Amazon Pages. People will buy complete books online, and allowing them universal access to it is a great idea.

Here's another article on the same subject at Forbes.

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