The app store effect on pricing will be coming to ebooks. With e-books being way overpriced (sometimes more than the print version), this has to be a good thing for consumers and authors - at least to an extent.
On the other hand, Kristine Kathryn Rusch said that one reason the overhead is so high is that publishers locked themselves into long-term contracts for things like Manhattan editorial offices and printers’ services, so they can’t reduce their overheads until those contracts expire.