Random House leery of iPad over pricing concerns

We've heard that Apple is still trying to hammer down multimedia content, but print may not be in the bag just yet. Random House is apparently applying some last minute pressure to Apple, since the company says that it's not quite sure about how pricing will work on the iPad. Apple's offer is that it will take its 30% of profit in that 70/30 "agency" split, but Random House is waffling and claiming that they need to think about it before anything gets signed.

If you ask me, it sounds like they're just pushing for a little more control while they still can. iBookstore pricing all seems pretty solid, and most of Random House's competitors have already signed on. This means that, if Random House does pass on Apple's deal, not only will they not be selling books, they'll also be left in the lurch when the iPad does take off. Right now, before the iPad's actual earnings become anything but hypothetical, Random House can pose all it wants. However, I'm pretty sure that after April 3rd, Apple will have most of the cards in terms of making content deals on the iPad.
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