Concerned about Amazon.com's low pricing of ebooks, publishers had taken measures as early as 2009 such as "windowing," a practice of delaying ebook releases to benefit sales of hardcover editions, Apple said in a filing in an ebook price-fixing lawsuit.The U.S. Department of Justice in an antitrust lawsuit in April last year alleged that Apple and five publishers had conspired to raise ebook prices.The publishers had also pursued in 2009 an agency model to sell ebooks where the publisher would set the price or a price range for each ebook and the retailer, acting as an agent, would receive a commission on each ebook sale, and also discussed raising wholesale prices of ebooks, Apple said in the filing before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.Into this environment, Apple stepped in to negotiate with publishers to set up its own iBooks ebook store. It favored an agency model that gave it 30 percent commission, as the agency model had helped the company in its App Store, where the developer fixed the consumer price.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Continue reading at 'PC World'
[ PC World | 2013-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
Sony said Apple had rejected its ebook app because it did not route book sales through Apples system. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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