“European Union regulators are to accept an offer by Apple and four publishers to end an antitrust probe into their e-book prices, two sources said, handing Amazon victory in a bid to sell online books cheaper than its rivals, sources said,” Foo Yun Chee reports for Reuters.
“Apple and the publishers have offered to let retailers set their own prices or discounts for a period of two years, and also to suspend “most-favored nation” contracts for five years, the sources said,” Chee reports. “Apple, Simon & Schuster, News Corp. unit HarperCollins, Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Livre and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, the owner of German company Macmillan, made the proposal in September. Pearson Plc’s Penguin group, which is also under investigation, did not take part in the offer.”
Chee reports, “The European Commission, which in September asked for feedback from rivals and consumers about the proposal, has not asked for more concessions, said one of sources. ‘The Commission is likely to accept the offer and announce its decision next month,’ the person said on Tuesday.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
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Apple should simply match Amazon’s prices, they have $100 billion in the bank to do that kind of stuff.
Amazon has nothing in the bank and is running -1% margins. They have very little wiggle room to do anything.
+1
Agreed. If I buy digital, I buy iBooks; if they don’t have it, I wait. If Apple matches, then it is a no-brainer.
They should sell them automatically all less than Amazon to teach Amazon a lesson of “Be careful what you wish for.” Make it so they cannot make money on the media for Kindle Fires, etc. which they sell at cost so Amazon’s profit oxygen is it completely cut off and that whole subsidized methodology comes to a grinding halt. Then they’d have to sell Kindles at higher prices and suddenly not look too good.
+1!
altho, we can thank Amazon for ushering the creation of iPad mini…
Not difficult for Apple to give a $1 below discount vs Amazon prices.
I buy Nook as much as possible. If Apple would release iBooks for Pc and Mac, I would go with them. I have legit times i need my books on my work dual screen pc.
I need a book reader on my Mac. C’mon Apple.
+1
C’mon dude. Get the mini. You won’t regret it when it comes to e reading.
This still sounds fishy. Apple doesn’t set a price on the books. If they are FREE than Apple offers them for FREE. Apple only sets their percent mark up. If the publishers ask $10.00 for the e-book then Apple offers them for $10 and takes their share of the sale. If something changed than I missed it.
So, why is this an Apple issue? Just more FUD to drag Apple’s stock down.