Computer Support Blog

This week, the U.S. Department of Justice takes Apple to court.  The government claims that the computer technology giant was part of a conspiracy to fix prices in the eBook market along with five major publishing companies.  Allegedly, Apple worked with all of the major publishers to radically change the eBook market and enforce their preferred “agency” model as opposed to the standard wholesale model.  Amazon, the dominant retailer of eBooks before Apple entered the market in 2010, sold eBooks on a wholesale model.  This model involved paying publishers a fixed price for each eBook sold, and then reselling it to the consumer at whatever price a company chose.  The wholesale model allows retailers to choose their own profit margins on books they sell.  The government says that Apple tried to create a new standard by working with publishers to replace this wholesale model. Apple’s new agency model had publishers, not retailers, set a standard retail price for eBooks. Retailers then received a 30% cut of the price specified by the publisher. 

Apple claims that it did nothing wrong or illegal and in a recent interview, CEO Tim Cook called the case “bizarre” for its accusations against the computer corporation and said that going to court was “a matter of principle”. The Department of Justice believes it can provide enough evidence to convict Apple of colluding with Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Macmillan and HarperCollins to raise eBook prices and change the retail model in an anti-competitive fashion.  The Department of Justice charged each of the publishers implicated in the case as well.  However, all five publishers settled their cases before going to trial.  The publishers paid the government $164 million total when you combine their settlements.

Apple entered the eBook market in 2010 when it released its popular tablet computer, the iPad.  The iBooks app and store on the iPad used the agency model to license books from publishers, which usually set eBook prices somewhere between $12.99 and $14.99.  This was significantly higher than the $9.99 standard that Amazon had set for eBooks on its Kindle service at the time.

Those in need of help with their iPad or the iBooks app should contact iPad support for assistance.  Amazon’s Kindle service is available on all mobile platforms.  Those interested in receiving help with the Kindle service on their smartphone or tablet should look for mobile support.

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RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

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Filed under: Amazon.com, apple, news