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...
Almost 48 hours after the US Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five publishers over alleged ebooks price fixing, Apple decided to break the silence and go on the record about the situation.
In a comment made to AllThingsD, Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr defends the company's position, claiming the following:
Apple has been grabbing a lot of headlines over the past couple of days, and not because of poor factory working conditions or the announcement of a new gadget. The Cupertino company is being sued by the Department of Justice over alleged eBook price-fixing.
The DOJ believes that Apple is acting in concert with several major publishers to raise eBook prices across the industry with its 'agency' pricing model. But there's just one problem: experts don't think the government has much of a case...
As expected, the United States Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five major book publishers over an alleged price fixing related to digital books. Three publishers are reportedly close to settling with Uncle Sam in order to dodge costly and lengthy litigation and avoid risking potentially high damages.
However, Apple and two other publishers are not willing to cut a deal with the government and are said to be gearing up for a fight with the U.S. Justice Department in court, if necessary...
Reuters is reporting tonight that the US Department of Justice could file a lawsuit against Apple as early as tomorrow morning over its iBook Store. The store utilizes an 'agency' model, which allows publishers to name their own eBook prices.
The DOJ believes that Apple is acting in concert with a number of publishers, who have recently raised their eBook prices across multiple platforms, to raise prices across the industry — which happens to be a violation of federal antirust laws...
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...
That's right Marvel fans, it looks like you will soon be able t0 download your favorite Marvel content through Apple's iBookstore. The comic book-creator announced today that it would be bringing more than 80 of its graphic novels to the iOS book market.
Of course, you can already access Marvel's work through its standalone application. But this move will make the content, which includes popular Spiderman, Avengers, and X-Men titles, available to a much wider audience...
So this is pretty interesting. A MobileRead forum poster is claiming that Apple's "FairPlay" iBooks DRM has finally been cracked. The Digital Rights Management has previously kept users from reading purchased iBooks content on non-iOS devices.
This means that, with the appropriate software, users will now be able to essentially "unlock" their iBooks to make them compatible with other devices that recognize the ePub eBook format...
I've never been interested into reading books on my iPad or iPhone for a couple reasons. First, I spend all day staring at a screen, so when I want to relax and read a book, I want to look at anything but another screen. Second, and maybe more importantly, having developed bad carpal tunnel syndrome from spending too much time on a computer, I really don't need to make things worse by holding an iPad in my hand when I want to read.
This being said, I understand the practicality of reading books on an iPad or any eReader. You can fit many more books in an iPad than you could in the trunk of your car. Besides, this post isn't about why I like or dislike the iBookstore. It's about the process of updating a book purchased on it...
Last Thursday, Apple took the stage at Guggenheim Museum in New York City to unveil its new educational content and publishing tools based on the iBooks platform. The event was centered around the releases of iBooks 2, iTunes U for iOS, and iBooks Author for Mac. And, as reported by AllThingsD, the response to the company's educational efforts has been nothing short of phenomenal.
According to Global Equities Research, upwards of 350,000 interactive textbooks for iPad were downloaded from the iBookstore during the first three days of availability. iBooks Author, Apple's free textbook creation tool for Mac, also had just shy of 100,000 downloads during its opening weekend. Best of all, it's a win-win situation for both students and publishers...
During its New York-based media event this morning, Apple announced its plans to get into the digital textbook publishing business. We have a good recap of the event in case you missed it, but the gist of it all is fairly straight-forward.
Using new applications like iBooks 2 and iBooks Author, Apple plans to disrupt the textbook industry by making it easier for folks to publish and consume educational content. And what's more impressive, they're giving the tools away for free...
There's been quite a bit to digest today regarding Apple's excellent educational event. I think the rumors that we'd see a "Garageband" for iBooks pretty much panned out like we expected.
To sort out all of the details, we've compiled a post explaining the highlights from Apple's event, along with details on the software involved and videos plus download links.
If you're at all behind on Apple's Media event this morning, don't worry, we've got you covered.