With less than 24 hours away until Apple's media event that will serve as a launchpad for the mini iPad and rumored new educational initiatives, Apple has rolled out paid iBookstore content in a slew of new countries. Paid electronic books first surfaced this morning over in the New Zealand iBookstore, but subsequent reports confirmed that paid content is now live - or in the process of going live - in as much as seventeen Latin American markets...
Apple's user manual entitled The iPhone User Guide for iOS 6 was released as a downloadable PDF document four days ago, but it wasn't immediately available via the iBookstore. The 155-page document is meant to help new users get acquainted with the iPhone 5 and iOS 6. And now, it is available as a free e-book on the iBookstore so those that prefer electronic books optimized for iOS devices - as opposed to importing and reading PDFs in the iBooks app - are advised to download this handy guide...
As the European Union (EU) last December started looking into claims that Apple was conspiring with publishers to raise e-book prices, Apple and several major publishers agreed last month to offer pricing concessions in an effort to end an EU antitrust investigation. Back in the U.S., a federal judge approved settlements with three publishers and the Federal Communications Commission.
Following that decision, EU officials are willing to market test commitments proposed by Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, Hachette, Holtzbrinck and Apple for the sale of e-books that would give retailers the freedom to set prices freely for the next two years...
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...
As you know, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) in April filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five publishers for alleged price fixing related to digital books. Though the Government proposed a settlement with Hachette SA, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, Apple is now calling that deal “fundamentally unfair, unlawful, and unprecedented”, arguing that litigation is needed.
Claiming the Government has “unwittingly placed a thumb on the scales in favor of Amazon”, Apple says that the proposed settlement would "terminate and rewrite Apple's bargained-for contracts" before the company has a chance to defend itself...
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...
Earlier this year, the United States Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five major book publishers for allegedly conspiring to raise e-book prices.
Three of the five publishers have decided to settle with the DoJ. But Apple, however, maintains its innocence. And it'll get a chance to prove that in court, come next June...
Corroborating iDB's scoop that all Apple's apps which ship with iOS software are about to get a major overhaul in iOS 6, the latest chatter in the rumor mill now has it that Apple at WWDC is launching redesigned front-ends for the App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore.
As for the new look, you can probably expect the App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore apps to adopt that sexier silver appearance.
But wait, there's more to this redesign than meets the eye...
Apple in court documents wrote that the government’s complaint over an alleged price fixing related to digital books is "fundamentally flawed". Moreover, the company argued that competition had been non-existent prior to its entrance into the market because Amazon was imposing its wholesale model upon the industry and no party was willing to challenge it...
Microsoft just announced this morning plans to invest in Barnes & Noble's Nook division, in an effort to better compete with the likes of Apple and Amazon in an increasingly competitive market for electronic books.
The Windows maker will form a yet-to-be-named subsidiary with Barnes & Noble, pouring a cool $300 million of its own money into the new entity. It will encompass all of the Nook biz, it has been confirmed, in addition to educational college content.
With this investment Microsoft is thinking big, securing a 17.6 percent stake in the new company valued at a whopping $1.7 billion...
If neither Walter Isaacson's authorized bio book on Steve Jobs nor Fortune Editor-at-large Adam Lashinsky's Inside Apple didn't satisfy your hunger for Apple's dirty little secrets and the inner workings of the world's most powerful corporation, it'll be a case of third time lucky with this one.
Enter Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success by Ken Segall, another not-to-be-missed download for your collection of e-books on Apple. It just debuted on the iBookstore, offering a fascinating inside look at Apple's secret weapon and also their corporate religion: simplicity...
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...