Apple Found Guilty of Conspiring to Fix Prices in E-Book Trial [Updated]

samcraig said:
So you're saying (for example) in 20 years - if Amazon has a monopoly and cranks up the cost of ebooks - NO ONE could enter the market?

What about Apple? What about Google. What about some company that doesn't even exist yet.

Again - your scenario isn't likely to occur. But it will drive fear for sure...
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Why would some invest in entering the market when Amazon could simply lower it's prices again?
 
napabar said:
You're talking about WHOLESALE prices. I'm talking about setting the RETAIL price. Publishers should be allowed to set the RETAIL price, just as developers do for Apps.
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So you want Hollywood studios to be able to set RETAIL price for movies too right?

If so, it would be the end of price shopping for movies since the prices will be the same everywhere.

For example, I want to buy Iron Man 3 on Blu-Ray.

Target: $29.99
Best Buy: $29.99
Wal-Mart: $29.99
Amazon.com: $29.99


Or music labels should also be able to set the RETAIL price for a CD. Let's say I want to buy Adele CD but want to shop for the best price. Opps, no matter where I go, the price will always be the same.


The top 5 app developers don't control 60% of the market.
The top 5 publishers control 60% of the market.

Why do you want the top 5 publishers who control 60% of the market to work together to fix the price?
 
Tiger8 said:
What? You mean Apple is greedy? Eye opener!
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guilty of price fixing? they were just fixing the prices that amazon forced on us publishers! amazon has fixed the price at below value - and thats the value that enables writers editors and publishers to make a living - not the value YOU (and AMZN) place on our work
 
Awesome. I just love the people who are still hanging on to Apple's innocence. In thus country, you are usually innocent till proven guilty. But in this case, you are innocent even if proven guilty.

Deal with it, people.
 
napabar said:
A publisher setting the price for an eBook in the iBookstore is no different than me, as a developer, setting the price for my app in the App Store.
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But if you choose not to sell your app directly but instead choose to distribute your app to other vendors... those vendors can't collaborate on a fixed price nor can they scheme for the purpose of putting another vendor out of biz. Understand now?

Regardless... the price of Apple gizmos just went up. :eek:
 
Amazon >> Apple. Apple comes out with 2 products per year? (new iPad and iPhone) While Amazon has millions of products and has way better customer service.
 
Amazon actually exists to provide great products & services to all consumers at a reasonable price. They are basically a non-profit company. Apple exists to gouge the hell out consumers.
 
EbookReader said:
So you want Hollywood studios to be able to set RETAIL price for movies too right?

If so, it would be the end of price shopping for movies since the prices will be the same everywhere.

For example, I want to buy Iron Man 3 on Blu-Ray.

Target: $29.99
Best Buy: $29.99
Wal-Mart: $29.99
Amazon.com: $29.99


Or music labels should also be able to set the RETAIL price for a CD. Let's say I want to buy Adele CD but want to shop for the best price. Opps, no matter where I go, the price will always be the same.


The top 5 app developers don't control 60% of the market.
The top 5 publishers control 60% of the market.

Why do you want the top 5 publishers who control 60% of the market to work together to fix the price?
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More like Amazon 14.99. Wait a couple months.
 
CapnJackGig said:
Good, now I hope they get gouged as hard as they gouge customers.
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Apple can gouge all they please just as long Amazon is able to offer more competitive prices. There'll still be idiots out there that will continue to pay higher prices to Apple for an identical product.
 
smoledman said:
Amazon actually exists to provide great products & services to all consumers at a reasonable price. They are basically a non-profit company. Apple exists to gouge the hell out consumers.
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I initially took this as satire and had a good laugh. Then I saw your sig block. oh hai amazon PR! :apple:
 
What a total waste of effort and an unnecessary distraction for Apple. They had hardly a prayer of prevailing, and no publishers with whom they could partner if they did. Pushing this case to trial was unwise, and suggests a lack of judgement at the top, I am afraid.
 
AdonisSMU said:
Well that means Apple is in violation with relation to the music industry as well. They cant have it both ways...
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Apple uses WHOLESALE with music.

Not agency.

Apple only use agency with APP.




-------------------
Case in point. Amazon discounted Lady Gaga digital CD to $0.99 in the first week of its release. Amazon used that as a loss leader and it lost a few millions on it.
 
smoledman said:
Amazon actually exists to provide great products & services to all consumers at a reasonable price. They are basically a non-profit company. Apple exists to gouge the hell out consumers.
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They do make a nice profit at the end of the day, its just not from eBooks. They can continue to break even on eBooks by gaining higher profits off other products.
 
Robert.Walter said:
As far as I understood it, the MFN clause in apples contract required publishers to offer apple the lowest price that it offered to other distributors, not raise other distributors prices to the level of apple.
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Amazon has, and has had, the same clause. It is a key factor in their predatory pricing schemes. If the judge is going to take umbrage with Apple using an MFN clause she needs to make the same ruling against all companies using one. Declare them illegal right now and nix them across the board.

In some ways I don't get the notion of saying book prices can really be colluded.this isn't like petrol where it is literally the same product no matter where you go. Scholastic book titles aren't the same as Random House, it's creative IP, not fuel
 
Mr.damien said:
Finally some justice.

Can't count the number of time iBooks price is over Amazon prices. At best they match them, otherwise it's ALWAYS more expensive.
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Again, the Amazon ebooks prices were already raised before Apple came on the scene. They went from the promised $5 to $10, and then to prices higher than the physical books at times all within 2 years of the start of Kindle. That was before Apple came on the scene.

While Apple and the publishers tried to set up a jerky deal, IMO Amazon already had the pubs and the consumers by the balls. Some form of competition is needed to break that hold. Sadly, this solution was bad (or illegal). Hopefully someone will come up with a better way to do it.
 
AdonisSMU said:
Only in America is allowing people to charge what they think something is worth collusion.
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Apple lost the case not because they gave publishers the ability to set end prices to what they wanted. They lost the case because the court found they coordinated the publisher's efforts to set book prices.

It's the colluding that's worth collusion.
 
GREEN4U said:
More like Amazon 14.99. Wait a couple months.
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WRONG. If the MOVIE STUDIO were able to set the RETAIL price, the prices would be the same everywhere. Because the movie studios are the one who would set the price at Target, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Amazon etc...

Iron Man 3 on Blu-Ray.

Target: $29.99
Best Buy: $29.99
Wal-Mart: $29.99
Amazon.com: $29.99

The same thing happened with ebooks until the DOJ got involved. The price of ebook X was the same at Amazon, Apple, Google, Sony, Nook etc...

And this happen with hundreds of thousands of ebook.
 
charlituna said:
Evidence?

You have none. So lets not accuse Apple of something and stir up a hornets nest
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The mere fact that Eddie Cue said there was no collusion is perjury by the fact that Apple lost the case.

Apple has said they will appeal the ruling. Until that time perjury has been committed by Apple's entire counsel and senior management.

If Apple loses that appeal it will (in my opinion) hurt Apple's reputation and do more harm than good.

Apple should lick their wounds and accept the ruling of the case.

It's going to be a long summer for Apple.
 
Worst trial ever.
 

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