“Today’s big overnight news is that Apple has settled with consumers and states in a pricing suit, the details of the settlement as yet undisclosed,” John Biggs reports for TechCrunch. “Don’t worry: you won’t have to register a $10,000 windfall with the IRS because Apple asked publishers to raise prices and force Amazon to do the same in order to beat Bezos’ $9.99 stranglehold on the e-book giant. Instead, lawyers will get a lot of money and Amazon will win again.”
“In short, Apple was sued for working with publishers to get out of a nasty relationship with Amazon,” Biggs reports. “While no one is blameless here, this lawsuit shouldn’t have happened.”
“But within the news is a very interesting point: It’s the idea that Amazon was selling ebooks ‘below cost’ at $9.99 and that there was a real cost involved in selling access to a conglomeration of bits,” Biggs reports. “What is ‘below cost’ in publishing? Given falling author advances, the move from printed books to e-books, and the general lack of interest in long form reading except in young adult and niche publishing, I doubt anyone knows what a book ‘costs’ anymore.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple did nothing illegal (there simply is no evidence) and we hope justice will finally prevail upon appeal in the hands of a competent judge.
This settlement is contingent upon the outcome of appeal.
Related articles:
Apple’s Star Chamber: An abusive judge and her prosecutor friend besiege the tech maker – December 5, 2013
In pretrial view, judge says leaning toward U.S. DOJ over Apple in e-books case – May 24, 2013
Lawyers have complained for years that Judge Denise Cote pre-judges cases before she enters the courtroom – August 14, 2013
Apple settles e-book antitrust case with U.S. states; contingent on outcome of Apple’s appeal. – June 17, 2014
Stephen Colbert goes after Amazon, offers ‘I didn’t buy it on Amazon’ stickers – June 5, 2014
Amazon’s Bezos has gone too far: The e-book monopolist may finally face a court of law – May 25, 2014
U.S. Federal Puppet Denise Cote: ‘Apple’s reaction to the existence of a monitorship underscores the wisdom of its imposition’ – January 16, 2014
Judge Denise Cote denies Apple request block her friend as ‘antitrust compliance monitor’ – January 13, 2014
Antitrust monitor Bromwich rebuts Apple accusations of ‘unconstitutional’ investigation – December 31, 2013
Apple seeks to freeze its U.S. e-books ‘antitrust monitor’ – December 15, 2013
The persecution of Apple: Is the U.S. government’s ebook investigation out of control? – December 10, 2013
Apple’s Star Chamber: An abusive judge and her prosecutor friend besiege the tech maker – December 5, 2013
Apple takes aim not just at court-ordered e-books monitor, but also at U.S. District Judge Denise Cote herself – December 2, 2013
U.S.A. v. Apple: Judge Denise Cote assigns DOJ monitor in Apple ebook price-fixing case – October 17, 2013
U.S.A. v. Apple: Judge issues injunction against Apple in ebooks antitrust case; largely in line with what DOJ wanted – September 6, 2013
U.S.A. v. Apple: Judge Denise Cote says Apple needs third-party supervision after ‘blatant’ ebook price fixing – August 28, 2013
