I bought 4, half are available (Beautiful Code and iPhone App Dev: Missing Manual) while two are not (JavaScript: Definitive Guide and Hackers).
I wonder if it is related to the books themselves (perhaps each are on specific servers) or if it is only a coincidence that our available books match up.
If the original owner of the copyrighted material (logos, design, etc.) issued a DMCA takedown request to Apple wouldn't they have to remove it, or also be culpable for the infringement? As it is, since they are reviewing all of the apps, are they not already partially responsible?
I don't know if this analogy is safe to draw, but compare the Mac price of iWork ($80) to Mac Office Home ($150). Both are quite successful. Maybe pro apps will be able to take off at $20 or more on the iPad.
On one hand, it is much less than the corresponding PC software titles, but at the same time many of the variable costs (especially testing & support) are reduced due to the cohesiveness of the platform.
One such article is Technological Leapfrogging: Lessons from the U.S.Video Game Console Industry By Melissa Schilling. I read it for a Technology Entrepreneurship class and we discussed how Atari's "Unauthorized Games" were detrimental to their long term success.
Here is a pertinent quote from the paper, as I am unable to find a free version online:
"In the mid-1980s, profits for video game makers began to decline; many feared that video games had reached market saturation. Compounding this, the rapid proliferation of unauthorized games (games produced for a console with- out authorization of that console’s producer) lead to a market glut of games of dubious quality, and many unhappy retailers with video game inventories they were unable to move. By 1985, many industry observers were declaring the video game industry dead. Much to everyone’s surprise, however, two new entrants from Japan entered the U.S. video game market: Nintendo, with its 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) introduced in 1985, and Sega, which launched its 8-bit Master System in the U.S. in 1986 (Sega had previously introduced an 8-bit system dubbed SG-1000 in Japan in 1983). Though Sega’s Master System appeared to be technologically superior, Nintendo spent much more on advertising and development of quality games and characters, and had more game titles available than Sega. The Master System went on to sell two million units and at times held an 11% market share. The NES sold over one million units in the first year, sold 19 million units by 1990, and could be found in more than a third of the households in America and Japan. Nintendo’s “Super Mario Brothers 3” grossed over $500 million in America in 1989, selling seven million copies in the U.S. and four million in Japan."