Apple was to square off with the US government in court yesterday in a trial accusing the iconic tech firm of leading a conspiracy to boost the price of ebooks.
The California technology giant is on its own in its fight against the US Department of Justice, after five large publishers named in the lawsuit last year settled the charges.
US antitrust watchdogs say Apple orchestrated a collusive shakeup of the electronic book business in early 2010 that resulted in higher prices.
The New York trial is expected to last three weeks.
Five publishers named as defendants reached settlements in which they agreed to terminate their ebook agreements with Apple. The largest settlement was with Penguin for US$75 million, while a settlement with Hachette, Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster created a US$69 million fund for refunds to consumers. Macmillan settled for US$26 million.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook has rejected settling because it would call for Apple to sign an admission of wrongdoing.
The government’s case centers on a period when Amazon dominated the ebook business, selling most bestseller titles for US$9.99. Leaders of the major publishing houses discussed the threat from Amazon.
Into this environment stepped Apple, which was readying the launch of its iPad. Rather than following the Amazon “wholesale” pricing model in which the retailer sets the price, Apple favored the so-called “agency model,” where the publishers set the price and the seller — in this case Apple — received a 30 percent commission.
The result was an increase in price to US$12.99 or US$14.99 for most books. Apple throughout the negotiations informed the publishers of the status of its dealings with other publishers. Apple was the “ringmaster” of the “conspiracy,” the complaint alleges.
The government is expected to use e-mails and comments from late Apple CEO Steve Jobs saying to force a new pricing model, publishers should “hold back your books from Amazon.”
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
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