Spotify accuses Apple of impeding its fledgling audiobook business

Spotify launched its audiobook business just last month with 300,000 titles, but is now saying that Apple is engaging in "anticompetitive" behavior that is impinging the new business, the company wrote in a blog post. It said that Apple rejected its audiobook purchasing system three times due to a violation of its rules. To comply, it had to hide the price of the audiobooks and do sales outside of the main app via an email link.All of that makes it harder for Spotify to compete, as users can't easily compare prices. "[This] harms not only consumers, but, this time, also authors and publishers who now find themselves under Apple’s thumb." It's also highly inconvenient for buyers used to simply clicking on a link to buy an audiobook.Spotify's audiobooks could have easily been accepted if the company had followed the App Store rules, Apple told The New York Times. "We provided them with clear guidance on how to resolve the issue, and approved their app after they made changes that brought it into compliance," an Apple spokesperson said.Spotify could also have sold its audiobooks through the App Store's purchasing system, but Apple would then take a 30 percent cut — putting Spotify's audiobooks at a considerable disadvantage against Apple Books. "With our Audiobooks launch, Apple has once again proven just how brazen it is willing to be with its App Store rules, constantly shifting the goalposts to disadvantage their competitors," said Spotify CEO Daniel Ek.Spotify is already... Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2022-10-26 07:02:10 UTC ]
News tagged with: #app store #european commission #audiobook

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Lower ebook prices ahead as government threatens Apple, publishers?

The Justice Department has told Apple and five major publishers that it's planning to sue them for fixing ebook prices. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-03-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple admits to two key allegations in ebook price fixing case

While Apple and book publishers may find themselves on the precipice of an antitrust lawsuit from the Justice Department, filings in a concurrent civil class-action lawsuit obtained by BetaNews indicate that Apple has already admitted to two of the most damaging allegations in the case that the... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2012-03-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple’s Alleged E-book Price Fixing: What You Need To Know

The Justice Department is warning Apple and its publisher partners they may have to answer for their pricing model. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2012-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Justice Department preparing Apple iBooks antitrust lawsuit

The Justice Department is reportedly preparing to go after Apple, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Penguin, Macmillan and HarperCollins following its investigation into alleged ebook price-rigging. The case centers around a deal to switch to agency pricing, where the vendor takes a 30 percent cut... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2012-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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U.S. Warns Apple, Publishers

The Justice Department has warned Apple Inc. and five of the biggest U.S. publishers that it plans to sue them for allegedly colluding to raise the price of electronic books, according to people familiar with the matter. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2012-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Steve Jobs' last big deal is Apple's biggest headache

Before his death in October of last year, one of Steve Jobs' last big moves was Apple's foray into electronic books. The company announced the platform in March 2010, but the method in which Apple handled its deals with publishers has caught the eye of regulators. The Justice Department plans to... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2012-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple ups the resolution on iTunes U and iBooks 2 for new iPad

Apple certainly had a lot of bases to cover at yesterday's new iPad unveiling, so some minor details were bound to slip through the cracks. While app suites like iLife and iWork got to bask in the Yerba Buena spotlight touting enhanced resolutions for that Retina Display, the company's decidedly... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2012-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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U.S. reportedly warns Apple, ebook publishers about price-fixing

The U.S. Justice Department has warned Apple Inc. and five top book publishers that lawsuits over alleged ebook price fixing might be in the offing, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple, Amazon rivalry could grow

With iPad 3 rumored to be on the way—possibly boasting a sharper screen and talking personal assistant Siri—Apple CEO Tim Cook may drop the price of the iPad 2 so he can go after the cheaper tablet market now dominated by Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook. Analysts figure a $200 to... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2012-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Drag; Drop; Read: Apple's New iBooks Author Format

In early January, Apple released iBooks Author, a groundbreaking drag-and-drop ebook authoring environment that promises to democratize the production of complex, structured books, notably including textbooks. But iBooks Author could also presage something else: the eclipse of open ebook standards. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple Acquires App Search Engine Chomp

 Apple confirmed yesterday that they have acquired the San Francisco-based software company Chomp Inc. Chomp’s feature product is their application search engine that sifts through hundreds of thousands of apps and narrows it down to just a few options for its users. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2012-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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iMedia Revenue Ltd. Provides Newspaper Publishers With Forum For Online Business Opportunities

Research Triangle, NC –February 21, 2012 – iMedia Revenue Ltd., a company dedicated to delivering the latest advanced editorial and advertising solutions to local newspaper agencies, today announced the launch of a BloggingWriters ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury sets up India business

Bloomsbury is setting up a new publishing business in India, with plans to develop Indian... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple Tweaks iBook Language: Your Content Is Your Content

A couple weeks after introducing its new iBooks Author app, Apple has clarified legal language about what happens to the books users create with the software. Apple continues to insist that users can only sell electronic books in the iBook format via its iTunes store. But it makes it clear that... Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2012-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ambitious plans for Apple textbook growth

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple’s iBooks Author app attracts publishers

Independent publishers have welcomed the launch of Apple’s iBooks Author self-publishing... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple's iBooks Author EULA is more and less evil than you think

There's a strange concept in marketing that no publicity is really bad. If people talk about you, it broadly raises brand awareness. People eventually forget the bad news but not the brand. Who remembers last year's furor over Apple's onerous publisher subscription terms? That's the eventual... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2012-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple's iTunes education gamble is about building loyal consumers early

Two months ago, I argued here on BetaNews that despite the ever-increasing chorus of negativity surrounding Apple, its best days are ahead. One of my reasons for my belief is the young consumer, where the Cupertino company is building a considerable amount of brand equity. Today's... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2012-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookseller Awards open for business

The starting gun has been fired in the race to find Britain's best publishers, retailers... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Analyst: Apple's e-Textbook Gambit 'Just a 70% Solution'

Apple today announced iBooks Author and iBooks 2, free applications that let educational publishers and teachers create and market K-12 textbooks and course... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2012-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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