Penguin, one of the five named publishers in the Apple e-book price fixing suit, has reached a comprehensive agreement with the United States State Attorneys General and private class plaintiffs to pay a cool $75 million in consumer damages, in addition to costs and fees related to resolving all antitrust claims relating to the e-book price fixing suit… Read More
Things are really starting to heat up between Apple and the US Department of Justice over this e-book price fixing scandal. The DoJ filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple last year for allegedly conspiring with major book publishers to raise e-book prices.
And with the trial set to kick off in a few weeks, there’s beginning to be a lot of activity between the two. Yesterday, a DoJ filing popped up that called Apple out for facilitating the price fixing. And today, a potentially damning email from Steve Jobs has surfaced… Read More
Google kicked off its annual I/O developers conference yesterday with its customary keynote. The search giant used the nearly 4-hour long affair to announce new software and services, including Spotify-like Play Music All Access and Hangouts messaging.
Additionally, Google also took the opportunity yesterday to update some of its apps. It gave Gmail some new action buttons, showed off a preview of its upcoming Maps update, and released a new version of its Play Books app for both iOS and Android… Read More
It looks like another win by Amazon against so-called “agency” pricing model employed by Apple’s iBookstore and other digital bookstores. Following the lead of a US court, the European Union (EU) Thursday announced that the iPhone maker along with four publishers will relent after all.
Specifically, Apple and publishers reportedly have agreed to lower e-book prices on competing stores, including the Kindle store operated by Seattle-based Amazon. Apple, along with Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan, signed the agreement because it wanted to avoid fines that could have topped an astounding $15 billion.
As part of the settlement, Apple’s so-called “most-favored nation” clause – that barred publishers from offering lower prices on competing stores – gets suspended for five years… Read More
The e-book market on iOS is pretty crowded. There’s Apple’s iBooks, of course, and then there’s Amazon’s Kindle app and Nook by Barnes and Noble. And all of these services have extremely large e-book offerings and millions of users.
But apparently that isn’t enough to stop Sony from throwing its hat into the ring. The electronics giant released its own free e-book app in the App Store today, entitled Reader — eBooks from Sony, for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch… Read More
If you bought Walter Isaacson’s official Steve Jobs biography, titles from the New York Times bestseller list or other iBooks from Apple (or e-books from other retailers) between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012, you may be eligible for your share of the $65 million settlement in the e-book price fixing scandal. Amazon and Apple started emailing customers that the settlement has been reached between the State Attorneys General and book publishers Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster.
Though Apple has not been sued in this case, the company is “assisting in providing this notice as a service to its customers”. Companies will compensate eligible customers from $0.30 to $1.32 per e-book as the named publishers already paid $69 million into a settlement fund… Read More
From the apps to the merchandising, Rovio appears to be making money hand over fist. Yesterday, the brains behind the popular Angry Birds physics puzzler series updated their original game with 30 new levels. But it looks something else has been cooking in Rovio’s kitchen as today the Finnish developer launched at Frankfurt Book Fair a new app for the iPad.
It’s called Bad Piggies’ Best Egg Recipes and you guessed right, it’s an e-book, basically an interactive replica of the dead tree version ($9.99 on Amazon) Rovio published last year, which contains 41 egg recipes. We’ve got a teaser clip and a hands-on video for your right after the break… Read More
Apple is asking the Department of Justice to turn over interviews it held with Amazon employees as part of the recently-approved ebook pricing settlement. According to the Cupertino, Calif. iBooks firm, Amazon “was the driving force behind the Government’s investigation, and it told a story to the Government that has yet been scrutinized.” The Justice Department is scheduled to haul Apple, along with Macmillan and Penguin into court next June. Read More
Earlier this year, the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Apple and 5 major publishers for allegedly conspiring to fix e-book prices. The trial is set for June of next year.
Apple maintains that the lawsuit is ridiculous, and vows to fight the allegations. But not everyone is so sure. A federal judge just approved settlements from three of the publishers… Read More
A new report is out this morning claiming that Apple and several major publishers have agreed to offer pricing concessions in an effort to end an antitrust investigation by the European Union (EU).
Last December, the EU started looking into claims that Apple was conspiring with publishers to raise e-book prices, saying its “agency model” was hampering digital publishing competition in Europe… Read More
The US Department of Justice says it has received nearly 1000 public comments since it lodged its lawsuit against Apple and a number of major book publishers earlier this year. The suit claims that Apple worked in concert with the publishers in an effort to raise e-book prices.
The DoJ has responded to the comments today, and has strong words for both Apple and the accused publishers. Despite the pushback, the Department says that it has every intention to move forward with its e-book lawsuits and settlement talks as planned… Read More
The United States Department of Justice (DoJ), which filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five major publishers for alleged price fixing of electronic books sold on the iBookstore, is painfully lost in the intricacies of the so-called agency model exercised on the iBookstore, says Apple’s Eddy Cue.
Unlike Amazon which gets to dictate prices, often at the expense of publishers, Apple lets publishers set their own price tags on the iTunes store, opting instead to take its standard 30 percent cut.
Somehow, the government alleges such a practice, which has been widely accepted on iTunes since the dawn of time, is the product of a conspiracy.
Now, Apple had to dispatch its online services boss to set the record straight, saying the government doesn’t have a clue… Read More
Confident that the US Department of Justice’s allegations that Apple sat down with book publishers to agree on eBooks prices are weak, the company wants to go to trial to defend itself, a lawyer for the company said today.
According to antitrust experts, the DoJ, which filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five other publishers last week has a weak case, and this probably explains why Apple is feeling so strong about the situation… Read More
It appears that Apple may avoid going head to head with the Department of Justice over possible eBook price fixing, with the news from Reuters that the company behind iBooks and publishers may be close to coming to an agreement with the DOJ.
Earlier this month it was suggested that Apple and book publishers had been colluding in order to fix the price of electronic books, and with Apple already in so many court rooms it is clear that the firm could do without having to fight on yet another front.
Even Apple can’t take on everyone… Read More
Seth Godin is reporting that Apple is rejecting eBooks submitted to the iBookstore that contain a link to Amazon. Godin experienced the blockage first-hand, after Apple rejected his eBook for containing “multiple links to Amazon store.”
The links to Amazon were found in the bibliography of his new book Stop Selling Dreams, where Godin linked to Amazon using its affiliate program, so readers could locate books he has published. These types of practices could lead to a closed eBook market… Read More
Steve Jobs’ biographer Walter Isaacson is considering adding more content to his already-released book on Apple’s late co-founder and former CEO.
The book originally went on sale not long after the iconic Jobs’ death, but with so many questions left unanswered and some pundits suggesting that the book misses important events from the man’s life, Isaacson has admitted that he may well need to add more content to his already-lengthy book.
In fact, during an interview with Fortune, Isaacson went so far as to call the best-seller a “first draft,” which we are sure will no doubt not please everyone who spent their hard-earned money on it. Read More
Last week we reported that Walter Isaacson’s recently-released Steve Jobs biography had reached a major milestone on Amazon. In less than two months on the market, the book has become the online retailer’s best-selling title of 2011.
After making a few adjustments, Amazon re-released its list of top 10 books today. The company figured that, since Kindle e-books outsell hard covers, they should be included in the counting. Where does the Steve Jobs biography rank now? Read More
Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography of Steve Jobs has become Amazon’s best-selling title of 2011. The book made its debut on October 24th, and in less than 2 months it has already outsold many popular titles, including Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo, and StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath.
The total sales of the bio haven’t been released, but the book did remarkably well in its first week, selling more than 379,000 copies. You can find the book in a hardcover edition on Amazon or digitally on the Kindle Store. You can also grab a copy on Apple’s iBookStore… Read More
Some of the greatest minds in the security research and hacking community, including a couple of prominent jailbreak developers, have put together a new book called The iOS Hacker’s Handbook.
The book is a collaboration between infamous security guru Charlie Miller, Dion Blazakis, Dino DaiZovi, Vincenzo Iozzo, and Ralf-Phillip Weinmann. Stefan Esser (better known as “i0n1c” in the jailbreak community) is also listed as an author. The Dev Team’s MuscleNerd served as the book’s Tech Editor. Read More
Steve Jobs was know for sporadically emailing fans and random inquirers from his public Apple email address. He would give famous one-liners about hot issues, like when he said that Apple wasn’t tracking its users during the Location Services scandal back in April.
Jobs would occasionally send out encouraging emails, like the time he emailed the Apple Store employees in Japan during the earthquake and tsunami disasters. All of these emails, and more, have been collected in a new eBook called, Letters to Steve: Inside the E-mail Inbox of Apple’s Steve Jobs. Read More
