Why can't the big publishers get their act together?

Once again the e-book debate dominates the Bookseller front page. A surevey has been carried out and it must be no suprise to anyone that:

'Of those who already have an e-reader, the range and quality of books available to download was rated the least satisfying aspect of owning a device.'

As far as I can work out, the internet is a hungry beast. It wants content, content and more content. To make sure that people will pay for content, it needs to be delivered in a uniform format that works on multiple platforms (e-reader, iPod, mobile, perhaps even a big screen for those with sight problems).

The big publishers should get someone well-respected in the trade, perhaps Graham Bell from HarperCollins, and get him to come up with a solution for all publishers.

They should then set up their own e-shop and sell, sell, sell at a price that the customer is willing to pay. Unless they do something soon, the market will be lost to the likes of Amazon. If Audible (now owned by Amazon) only pay 15% of the price of an audiobook to publishers, what hope is there with e-books. And audiobooks are much more expensive to produce (paying the adaptation, paying the voices, paying the production). An e-book won't involve all these costs.