In an exclusive report out this morning, Reuters reports that EU regulators are going to accept an offer proposed by Apple and four e-book publishers that will allow retailers like Amazon to sell digital books at lower prices compared to iBookstore. Publishers Simon & Schuster, News Corp unit HarperCollins, Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Livre, and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, the owner of German company Macmillan, all offered concessions back in August and Apple in September abandoned its e-book agency model in EU in order to avoid a potentially harming anti-trust investigation…
Reuters has the story:
EU regulators are set to accept an offer by Apple and four book publishers allowing Amazon and other retailers to sell e-books more cheaply than Apple to end an antitrust investigation and avoid fines, two sources said on Monday.
Pearson Plc’s Penguin group, which is also under investigation, reportedly did not take part in the offer. Sources tell the news gathering organization that “the Commission is likely to accept the offer and announce its decision next month”.
The European Union regulators alleged that Apple and the four named publishers conspired to fix prices by requiring that books available on iTunes are not to be sold for less on competing digital stores. Regulators interpreted the policy as an attempt to prevent Amazon from undercutting Apple’s ebook pricing, which has eventually resulted in e-books price hikes on Amazon.
It was about the time, no?