US Justice department Investigates Book Publishers, Apple for e-book price fixing (1 Viewer)

[TheDeparted]

According to the LA Times, the publishers didn't want Amazon to control the ebook market by selling virtual books at a $9.99 or less price point. Publishers viewed their ebooks to be worth a lot more, and decided as a collective -- along with Apple -- to agree on a model once the iPad tablet hit the market. This agreement would leave publishers in control of pricing while providing retailers like Amazon and Apple a fixed commission on each sale.

link

I think I remember reading about this when it first happened - Apple wanted to get into selling books for the iPad, but couldn't compete/make obscene profits on iBookstore sales when Amazon was getting by with marginal profits undercutting the competition - so Apple colluded with some publishers to force e-tailers to sell their books at a specific price, just before they launched the iPad.


This reminds me of when Apple determined that they were entitled to 30% of all revenues generated from sales made from inside an app, including monthly subscriptions. To prevent developers from offsetting the increased costs by raising the app price, Apple then tried to control the price of apps in the Android marketplace by mandating that the iOS versions of an app must be priced less than or equal to the prices set in any other app market. (I didn't follow the story - did they succeed in this, or was it challenged in court for stifling free trade/markets?)


Is this when I say "Fug Apple."?