As I reported before Apple and various publishers have been sued by the DOJ for price-fixing and collusion in US VS Apple. Apple responded today with a brief statement saying “ it’s not true.” Apple stated that they broke Amazon’s e-book monopoly and therefore did a good thing. Others, myself included would argue that the agency model has artificially raised prices for the consumer. This is a case where clearly the market is being manipulated to the advantage of a certain segment. In Apple’s statement they pointed out that before the iBook Amazon controlled ninety percent of the e-book market two years later it is down to 60 percent. The question may become whether which is more important the percentage of the market in numbers that a business controls or is it the ability to control pricing within that market. Apple controls less than 40 percent of the eBook market but because of their agreement with the publishers they and the publishers control the prices. Many legal experts think that it maybe difficult for the DOJ to win this case, especially the collusion charge. The papers filed by the DOJ clearly show that the various publishers met in secret in an attempt to block Amazon’s ability to sell their books at a discount. However there is little evidence that Apple participated in those meetings. Apple can argue that the publishers may have colluded but they had nothing to do with that. Apple definitely has the money to fight this case, so don’t expect a quick settlement. Sit back and relax, because this fight has just begun.
