Amazon | The New York Times
Amazon has finally broken its silence about its dispute with Hachette: “we are not optimistic that this will be resolved soon,” a post by the Amazon Books Team, on Amazon, says.
“The statement is remarkable in several ways,” David Streitfeld, who’s covered the dispute for The New York Times, writes, among them that the company suggests customers who want Hachette product not in stock “purchase a new or used version from one of our third-party sellers or from one of our competitors.”
Here’s one more rather remarkable part of the statement: Amazon says the dispute has “generated a variety of coverage, presumably in part because the negotiation is with a book publisher instead of a supplier of a different type of product. Some of the coverage has expressed a relatively narrow point of view.”
Text italicized by me to convey the disbelief anyone who’s followed this story may be experiencing. Here’s a quick history of Amazon’s efforts before this statement to mitigate that narrow point of view:
- “An Amazon spokesman did not respond to a message about Ms. Heller’s complaints.” (May 9)
- “Amazon seems confident the uproar will soon die down and it will get what it wants. It declined to comment.” (May 16)
- “Amazon is, as usual, staying mum. ‘We talk when we have something to say,’ Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder and chief executive, said at the company’s annual meeting this week.” (May 23)
The company points to “one post that offers a wider perspective,” on the blog The Cockeyed Pessimist. Discussion of Amazon’s post on Amazon, though, is closed.
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