On Wednesday, the Department of Justice has accused Apple of partnering with five publishers to keep ebook prices artificially high to compete with Amazon.com. The anti-trust charges are likely to lead to a reduction in the price of eBooks, according to the USA Today article. The allegations are that Apple allowed publishers to sell eBooks for any price thy chose, assuming it was not cheaper than any other price on the internet. So, publishers set prices high to make more profits, which forced Amazon to also set prices high to compete. This lead to artificially high prices of eBooks. Apple plans to take on the Department of Justice in court because they claim that they helped to break “Amazon's own monopolistic grip on ebook sales.” So, Apple claims it was helping to break up Amazon’s monopoly but the Department of Justice claims that in doing so, Apple was breaking the law in a different way. Three publishers have already decided to settle out of court. Reporters estimate that e-Books will return to prices closer to Amazon’s original $9.99 each once the case is settled.
Today, Apple is still fighting the lawsuit that “accuses them of colluding to keep ebook prices high.” According to an eWeek article, Apple is claiming that the allegations are not true. The Justice Department maintains that it is filing suit to protect consumers against companies who try to control the market.
Personally, I own a Kindle. When I first purchased my Kindle I was expecting to be able to purchase eBooks and eSubscriptiosn at prices greatly reduced from physical copies. This was not that case. E-versions were cheaper but most of the time it was still cheaper to buy a used copy of a book then to buy an eBook. Needless to say, I was disappointed. In the days since the allegations have been made public, I have not seen the price of eBooks drop, but I have seen the price of magazine subscriptions drop dramatically. Although I cannot remember the exact price, I estimate the price of Time Magazine was $3.00 an issue last week which has dropped to $0.54 per issue today. Cosmopolitian $0.83 per issue. RollingStone $0.77 per issue. These are the prices I was expecting when I purchased my Kindle.
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