It all depends on either party's willingness to walk away. For Apple, books was just one small avenue for potential revenue, for the publishers it's their whole business. If Apple was missing a publisher on iBooks, they'd hardly care. If a book publisher can't get their authors' books on an iPad, those authors might go elsewhere.
> If Apple was missing a publisher on iBooks, they'd hardly care
With 4 out of 6 major publisher in, maybe, but that would have been another game with only 1 or 2 in.
