04/30, 6:10pm
Bissinger hurt by Apple, Amazon no-lower-price war
The insistence on having no lower prices at e-book stores has had a conspicuous if brief casualty, according to an account. Friday Night Lights author Buzz Bissinger shared with the New York Times that he had had his sequel book, After Friday Night Lights, pulled by Amazon after it was chosen by Starbucks as a Pick of the Week and given away through Apple's iBookstore for free through redemption codes. Amazon's automatic price check forced the Kindle price to zero, leaving online publisher Byliner.com no choice but to pull the book if it didn't want Bissinger to lose money and jeopardize the Starbucks deal.
more
04/20, 3:25pm
iBookstore may be forced to change in Canada too
The US lawsuit over e-book pricing was quietly preceded by civil lawsuits in Canada. An interview with Quebec attorney Normand Painchaud confirmed to the Montreal Gazette that he had asked for class action status on a lawsuit against Apple and the same five major publishers targeted by the US government. Other lawsuits have been filed in the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario.
more
04/18, 7:35pm
Apple eager to determine case in court
Apple on Wednesday stated that its confronting a Department of Justice lawsuit over e-book pricing was deliberate. Attorney Daniel Floyd told Judge Denise Cote that Apple believed the lawsuit was "not an appropriate case" and wanted to prove itself in court. The company wanted this to be "decided on the merits," Reuters heard while observing Floyd at a hearing.
more
04/12, 10:25pm
Apple publicly responds to DOJ lawsuit
Apple after silence through the past two days responded Thursday to the Department of Justice lawsuit over alleged e-book pricing collusion. Spokesman Tom Neumayr flatly rejected the accusations when asked for comment by AllThingsD, recapping the company's objections to the European Union that the iBookstore was beneficial as it was created. The iPad-focused store kept Amazon from having excessive control and improved e-books themselves, Neumayr said, pointing out that the move beyond the Kindle format also upgraded books themselves.
more
04/12, 12:50pm
Part of 'iTunes VIP' program
Apple is now offering special discounts at the online Apple store for some or all iBookstore publishers, TUAW reports. Buyers must go through iTunes Connect, but discounts on computers can range from $60 off the cheapest Mac mini to $500 off the base-level Mac Pro. The major limitation is quantity, as shoppers are said to be restricted to two Macs, two iPods/iPads, and one Apple TV.
more
04/12, 8:05am
ACCC asking for concerns over e-book fairness
The Australia Competition and Consumer Commission is considering taking the same path that the US Department of Justice did in confronting Apple and publishers over e-book pricing. Regulators have been asking Australian retailers whether they thought publishers were rigging pricing in the country. There were "competition concerns" whenever a company wanted to curb the ability to put a product on sale, the agency said.
more
04/11, 2:25pm
DOJ starts lawsuit to force fair e-book prices
(Updated with settlement news) As suspected, the US Department of Justice has sued Apple and publishers over claims of unfair e-book pricing. The complaint accuses Apple of colluding with publishers by both requiring a switch to an agency model, where publishers set the prices and ask for more, as well as demanding "most favored nation" status where no rival could have a lower price than the iBookstore. Some publishers are believed to have settled, but Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster are all targeted.
more
04/10, 9:10pm
DOJ may decide Apple must be forced to change
A pair of sources said Tuesday that the Department of Justice may sue Apple over its e-book pricing concerns as soon as tomorrow, April 11. Deals were being wrapped up with "several" publishers this week, Reuters had heard, but Apple wasn't in discussions and could face legal action soon. No final decision had been made, which given the timing could see a lawsuit moved until later.
more
04/05, 6:20pm
Google e-book resales shift back to Play store
Google gave notice Thursday that it was ending its e-book reseller program. The effort, which let physical retailers and other third parties resell from Google Play Books, had "not gained the traction" Google wanted. A current set of 16 partners would be phasing out as the service wound down by the end of January.
more
04/04, 9:35pm
Apple may be last to bend on e-book truce
Some progress has been made on trying to negotiate a settlment on e-book antitrust disputes in the US and Europe, insiders disclosed Wednesday. Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster have reportedly agreed to terms that would dissolve the iBookstore deals they struck, the Wall Street Journal said, which gave them control over pricing and required that they offer no lower price than at Apple's store. Apple, Macmillan, and Pearson, however, were claimed to be "reluctant" to make a deal.
more
04/02, 4:05pm
Apple could score rare victory over Amazon
The iBookstore is set to expand to Brazil within 30 days, claims a local magazine, Veja. No other details of the arrangement have been revealed, but the publication is the same one that roughly predicted when Apple would bring the iTunes Music Store to Brazil, and correctly stated that the first digital catalog by Roberto Carlos would be a highlight. The Music Store launched a few days after Veja's December 8th target.
more
03/30, 5:10pm
Leaks have Apple giving up lowest-price claue
Apple may be ready to make important concessions to settle a possible Department of Justice lawsuit over e-book pricing, a pair of sources claimed Friday. Although not concrete, a deal could come "in the next few weeks," the Reuters insiders said. The core of the deal would revolve around Apple dropping its "most favored nation" clause, which bars publishers from offering a lower price at other stores.
more
03/22, 6:55pm
Guild head says antitrust vs Apple may go too far
A possible DOJ antitrust lawsuit against Apple and book publishers may swing too much power towards Amazon, Authors Guild president Scott Turow said in the combination of an open letter and editorial Wednesday. He likened Amazon to a "Darth Vader" for Bloomberg, calling it a very successful company but a "frequently unscrupulous" firm. Until Apple's entrance and demands for an agency model in the iBookstore, where publishers set the prices, Amazon was pricing Kindle e-books below cost, both accelerating the death of physical bookstores and making it difficult for other e-bookstores to fairly compete.
more
03/12, 12:35pm
EU deal may avoid penalty over Apple book pricing
European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia in comments Monday said his agency was willing to settle with publishers over an e-book price fixing investigation. He was willing to put an end to possible penalties for Hachette Livre, HarperCollins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan if they addressed "all our objections [at the EC]" over the group allegedly raising prices unfairly, Reuters heard. The European regulator was working in tandem with matching US investigators, although he didn't directly confirm leaks of a possible Department of Justice lawsuit.
more
03/08, 6:30pm
Apple denies Jobs admitted e-book collusion
Apple on Thursday hoped to rebut claims that its late CEO Steve Jobs had admitted to collusion with publishers as part of a class action lawsuit filed against it. It believed that the lawsuit's view that comments Jobs made on publishers being "unhappy" with Amazon and iBookstore pricing leveling costs weren't the surefire evidence the plaintiffs thought it was. The beliefs of a pact against Amazon's low prices was just "antitrust buzzwords" that belied steps Apple had taken to level the playing field, as well as the nature of the iPad itself.
more
03/07, 11:45pm
DOJ warns Apple must change iBookstore rules
The US Department of Justice is readying an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and publishers unless they change their pricing strategy for e-books, leaks revealed Wednesday night. Agency officials reportedly slipped to the Wall Street Journal that both the iPad designer as well as Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster would face legal action for possibly having colluded on e-book pricing. DOJ prosecutors objected to Apple's since confirmed insistence on an agency model, where publishers set the price, as it allegedly kept e-book prices artificially inflated.
more
03/03, 7:10pm
Amazon tries self-publishing outside of Kindle
Amazon is making a rare effort to branch out in its e-book publishing beyond the Kindle through a new deal with author James Atlas that was outlined on Friday. A new 12-book biography line, Amazon Lives, will be edited by Atlas and published in e-book form in other stores, the New York Times was understood. Which stores would get it weren't mentioned, although it's unlikely to involve the Nook store given active bans on Amazon material over Barnes & Noble's objection to digital exclusives on the Kindle.
more
02/29, 6:00pm
Parallels restrictions at App Store
Apple is clamping down on iBookstore titles just because they link to outside bookstores, a report notes. Stop Stealing Dreams author Seth Godin complains that Apple recently rejected his title because the book contains links to works cited in the bibliography. "Multiple links to Amazon store. IE page 35, David Weinberger link," a rejection notice reads. Godin comments that the issue is also easy to work around in his case, since the unrestricted EPUB edition can be accessed on an iOS device via a web link.
more
02/25, 12:15pm
iBooks ePubs can have DRM removed
New updates to copy protection stripping tool Requiem appear to have removed the copy protection from Apple's paid iBooks downloads. The update so far is only known to work with ePubs and not Apple's newer .ibooks textbook format, but it has been tested on the MobileRead forums and elsewhere as working. The app had already worked with pre-iTunes Plus music and with at least some videos.
more
02/15, 5:35pm
Early pre-order titles no longer need art
Apple has issued a letter to iBookstore publishers, informing them of several small but significant upgrades to the storefront. The first is support for screenshots, which Apple recommends using for "Fixed Layout, Read Aloud, and Multi-Touch books." The change was likely made with Apple's interactive textbook initiative in mind.
more
02/03, 4:05pm
Non-iBooks output uncontrolled
Apple has pushed out an update to iBooks Author, the company's recently-launched publishing tool. The sole change in v1.0.1 is a new end-user agreement, clarifying a controversial portion of the document which initially suggested that any material produced with the software could only be sold through the iBookstore if it was sold at all. "If you charge a fee for any book or other work you generate using this software (a 'Work'), you may only sell or distribute such Work through Apple (e.g., through the iBookstore) and such distribution will be subject to a separate agreement with Apple," one part of the previous EULA read.
more
01/29, 11:00pm
Barnes and Noble tries third-gen Nook reader
Barnes & Noble in an elaborate study of its business gave away plans for a third-generation Nook e-reader. Scant details were given to the New York Times, but it would ship sometime in the spring. The bookseller's recently established pattern suggests it's an E Ink reader like the Nook Simple Touch rather than an Android tablet.
more
01/21, 1:45am
Hagens Berman amends Apple suit over collusion
Hagens Berman's class-action over iBookstore prices was expanded on Friday with potentially more serious evidence. New claims from the law firm allege that Hachette Livre (incorrectly described as Hatchett) chairman Arnaud Noury met with an unnamed Amazon executive on December 3, 2009 several weeks before the iPad unveiling to convince him to raise the price of e-books on the Kindle Store. According to the anecdote, Noury had said that a $2 to $3 price hike over the existing $10 would solve not just Hachette's problems but those of its competitors, suggesting that it was aware of and working together on raising prices.
more
01/20, 1:20pm
CEO hints at possibility of Android textbooks
Prior to yesterday's textbook announcement, McGraw-Hill had been in talks with Apple since at least June, an AllThingsD interview reveals. "Sitting and listening to all of this, I wish Steve Jobs was here," says McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw. "I was with him in June this past year, and we were talking about some of the benchmarks, and some of the things that we were trying to do together. He should be here. He probably is. This was his vision, this was his idea, and it all had to do with the iPad."
more
01/19, 1:20pm
2GB cap being ignored by Apple partners?
(Updated with iTunes Connect info) In tandem with the announcement of iBooks Author, Apple has published a support document illustrating some details. The company notes, for instance, that while books can be published to the iBookstore as free or paid titles, they can also be exported as separate PDF, text, or iBooks files for distribution elsewhere, though only for free. Selling on the iBookstore requires registration, and a copy of iTunes Producer; submitting to iTunes U requires an iTunes U website.
more
01/19, 1:00pm
iBooks 2 gets our early look
Apple committed iOS to education in a big way at its event by launching iBooks 2. We've taken a look at Apple's first dip into a full digital textbook platform and come back fairly impressed. Read ahead for more details and what this might mean for Amazon, Kno, and others hoping to get into e-books for schools.
more
01/19, 10:55am
Makes for interactive, media-rich textbooks
(Updated with iBooks Author availability) Presenting at today's education event in New York City, Apple has introduced iBooks 2, a major update of the company's reading app. A strong emphasis of the app is on textbooks, which can include things like movies, animations, and interactive elements, such as the ability to zoom into cell structures in a biology book. Books now also support elements like indexes, glossaries, review questions, and turning highlights or glossary items into study cards. Titles can be read in a new fullscreen mode, and a Textbooks section has been added to the iBookstore.
more
01/19, 9:50am
We cover Apple NYC event as it happens
Apple is starting its New York City education event. The company is expected to introduce a new system to ease publishing textbooks and is rumored to be updating Pages and iBooks, including a possible Mac-native iBooks app. Check our real-time coverage for updates as they appear, starting from 10AM Eastern.
more
01/19, 9:50am
iBooks could arrive on Mac for first time
Apple could announce Pages '12, an iBooks 2.0, and textbooks rentals at this morning's education event in New York City, claims ZDNet's Jason O'Grady in a Twitter post. The writer cites only a "little birdie" for the information but also mentions that iBooks 2.0 could include a version for Lion, and that all three products will be announced by Roger Rosner, Apple's VP in charge of iWork.
more
01/18, 4:10pm
Company unlikely to use native app approach
Apple's digital textbook project is internally codenamed "Bliss," an AppleInsider source claims. The site says it actually received the tip earlier in the week, but it wasn't until a Wall Street Journal report corroborated some of the details that it decided to publish the information. This includes the assertion that Roger Rosner, Apple's VP for iWork, is overseeing the project.
more
01/18, 12:35pm
Bloomberg info expands, reiterate claims
Apple's education event in New York City -- scheduled for tomorrow -- will place an emphasis on growing the educational materials available for the iPad, particularly for K-12 students, say two Bloomberg sources claimed to have "knowledge of the announcement." The people also say that Apple's plans will be revealed by senior Internet software VP Eddy Cue, and involve a set of tools making it easier to publish textbooks and other educational content.
more
01/17, 1:20pm
Original source suggests comments misinterpreted
Apple's upcoming education event is being "over-hyped," a new Forbes report suggests. The business publication cites for instance an anonymous former Apple executive, who claims that the event "is being blown out of proportion." More critically Forbes says it has interviewed Matt MacInnis, the Inkling CEO used as a source for an Ars Technica piece suggesting Apple is working on a "GarageBand for e-books."
more
01/16, 10:35pm
Scoops outline Apple textbook event
Apple's New York City education event is nothing less than a rethinking of how publishers create e-books as a whole, leaks divulged Monday. One scoop characterized the process to Ars Technica as a "GarageBand for e-books" that would let authors and publishers easily build e-books for iPads and iPhones, including interactive books. iBooks would also start supporting ePub 3, which supports audio and video natively and would make the store much more standards-compatible than Apple's custom take on ePub 2.
more
01/11, 1:15pm
Apple to hold NYC event January 19
Apple has confirmed rumors of a New York City event on Wednesday. The company has asked the media to join them for an "education announcement in the Big Apple" on January 19 Its event will take place at the Guggenheim Museum and puts the Apple logo in a traced-out New York City skyline.
more
01/07, 4:15pm
Apple sued for inadvertent aid to e-book pirates
Apple is currently facing a lawsuit in China for allegedly aiding in the sale of illegally published e-books on the iBookstore. The People's Daily reported that nine authors accused Apple of doing nothing to stop bootleggers from publishing 37 works without permission and profiting from it. They contended that Apple owed them the equivalent of nearly $1.9 million in damages, both for letting the publishers through and for profiting from its customary 30 percent cut.
more
01/02, 10:35pm
Apple mystery NYC event already toned down
Apple's mystery New York City event this month is less ambitious than speculated, an outside source corroborated Monday. It would center on publishers in the iBookstore, TechCrunch said, and would be "minor." As such, the event would be more for the publishers themselves and not the public.
more
01/02, 4:20pm
Apple may have ad or publishing event this month
Apple is gearing up for a non-hardware special event at the end of January, insiders divulged Monday. The gathering, in New York City rather the Bay Area, had few details from AllThingsD but would be headed up by Internet Software and Services head Eddy Cue. The only proclaimed certainty from the multiple contacts was that it wouldn't involve the iPad 3.
more
12/26, 12:20pm
Amazon gives discounted books
Amazon UK took a page from Apple's 12 Days giveaway with a sale, not giveaway, of its own. The deal cuts back a number of books by several times their asking prices, often putting them under £3. Its deal starts off with a focus on award-winning novels first.
more
12/20, 8:10pm
Lawyers want to defend based on insider knowledge
Law firms have motioned this week to represent plaintiffs in class action suits accusing Apple of colluding with publishers. Grant & Eisenhofer claimed to have an insider that revealed "detailed knowledge" in March that gave it reason to pursue the case. A matching filing from another firm also pointed to a source, possibly the same one, that attended an "in-person meeting" with a "very knowledgeable and important confidential source" that was aware of dealings.
more
12/08, 1:10pm
Books, podcasts also feature strongly
(Updated with note on regional differences) Apple has posted the 2011 edition of iTunes Rewind, its annual promotion of what it considers top picks at the iTunes Store, the App Store and the iBookstore. The content is divided into music, movies, TV shows, apps, books, and podcasts, and from there further broken up into subcategories. Under music Apple has chosen Adele as the artist of the year, for instance, and the Foo Fighters' Wasting Light as the album of the year.
more
12/06, 11:05pm
iBooks 1.5 focuses on distraction-free reads
Apple late Tuesday gave readers an important update to iBooks (App Store). The 1.5 update catches up to some rival apps with a nighttime mode that switches to gray-on-black for reading with little or no light. Full-screen is also an option for those who want even more text on the screen, such as a children's book.
more
12/06, 7:30am
EC worries iBookstore may have made illegal deals
The European Commission detailed plans Tuesday for a formal investigation into major publishers and Apple as to whether their deal might violate EU antitrust law. Officials will determine whether Hachette Livre, HarperCollins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan have possibly used Apple to shut out e-book competition from rival stores or publishers. EC staff are worried that the agency model, where the store makes a flat rate and the publishers set the prices, is keeping the price of titles on the iBookstore and elsewhere artificially high.
more
11/08, 6:15pm
Rakuten buyout puts Kobo in Japanese hands
Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten said late Tuesday that it was buying Kobo for $315 million in cash. The deal gives it access to both an e-bookstore and e-reader devices, including traditional devices like the Wireless eReader and Android tablets like the Kobo Vox. Rakuten explained it as a push to expand its ecosystem outside of Japan through a media store, where books would just be the start.
more
10/31, 11:40am
Nov 7 NYC event likely to show Nook Color 2
Barnes & Noble sent invitations to Electronista and other members of the press for its widely rumored November 7 event. The gathering will follow the bookseller's tradition of holding events in its Union Square bookstore in New York City. Nothing is mentioned of the contents other than the Nook logo and promises of a "very special announcement."
more
10/28, 9:10am
Nielsen, WSJ team to factor in Kindle, iBooks
Nielsen on Friday broke with traditionalism and said it would start factoring e-books into its charts. Its BookScan metric would now include the Amazon Kindle Store, Apple's iBookstore, Barnes & Noble's Nook store, the Google eBookstore, and other stores would now be counted alongside paper titles. It will break out charts into fiction and non-fiction for both combined digital and paper sales as well as digital-only sales.
more
10/24, 4:25pm
Digital version could trump paper sales
The newly-released Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson is on track to becoming an Amazon bestseller, a company spokeswoman tells Reuters. "The way things are trending, it could very likely be our top-selling book of the year," says Brittany Turner. No sales numbers have been mentioned so far.
more
10/23, 10:30pm
Steve Jobs biography ironically hits Kindle first
Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs has just gone live as an e-book ahead of its official October 24 unveiling. In unintentional irony, Steve Jobs has arrived first in the US on the Kindle rather than the iBookstore. Apple's store is already making it available in Europe (iBookstore UK).
more
09/29, 2:35pm
Amazon CEO says ecosystem key to tablets, more
Most of those who have failed at tablets and other home electronics were too focused on the hardware alone, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in an interview following the launch of the Kindle Fire tablet. He explained to TechCrunch that Amazon would do well with the Kindle Fire because it treated the Android slate as an "end-to-end service," not just an isolated design. It was the software and the content that defined a tablet, and those who didn't create a complete effect have struggled.
more
09/29, 10:55am
Apple adds bulletpoints for upcoming iPhone event
Apple has dramatically expanded the presence of iTunes in Europe, reports say. In addition to Poland, the iTunes Music Store is now accessible in 11 more European countries. The remainder of the list includes Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
more
09/25, 1:20am
Amazon Prime eBooks to be subscription service
Amazon's at least proposed strategy for subscription e-book downloads was validated through a source code discovery in the Kindle management page. Mentions caught by MobileRead show code strings verifying whether devices are "Prime_eBooks_compatible" as well as references to checked out Prime books. It's implied that, rather than go strictly unlimited, Amazon would have users "borrow" a certain number of books for the $79 outlay of a yearly Prime subscription..
more
