I've just been looking at BooksOnBoard and the Sony Connect Store. It seems because of the Kindle and Amazon having low prices on best sellers that we are able to get books now just as cheap. So the Kindle seems to be having a positive impact on ebooks and not just the ones that are for the Kindle, but ebooks in general.

So now is the time to get bying those bestsellers you've been wanting but the price has been too high!
Amazon's prices for DRMed eBooks is still too high.
Take say a $25 bestseller hardcover book, take 40% off and you get $15. Now take the ebook edition currently today at $9.99. You have a 60% off. You won't do better in most book shops unless the book is being discounted to sell excess stock due to the paperback having been released.

because of the price drops, I did purchase an ebook for my wife that otherwise I would not have at the regular price.
eBooks are not comparable to hardcovers (regardless what the publishers want us to think).

DRM = rental. The going price for renting a book is free (from the library). Any DRMed eBook more than the "throwaway" price of $0.99 is a ripoff.

The cost of producing an eBook is pennies. $10 for an eBook is price gouging.
Well, this ebook does not have DRM. Not since the DRM was tossed out. So how much is it worth now that it has no DRM?
Huh? What book are you talking about?

A DRM-free eBook should go for about half of what Amazon is charging (about the average price at Fictionwise - for non-DRMed eBooks).
I purchased Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn and removed the DRM and converted it. It did not take long at all to convert and now I have it in a DRM format.