The figure is in for how much Apple Inc might have to pay to consumers to settle charges of conspiring with publishers to raise e-book prices: US$400 million.
Apple last month agreed to settle a class action brought by US attorneys general in 33 states. They had sought hundreds of millions of US dollars in damages from Apple, claiming it had colluded with book publishers to inflate e-book prices. The class action was certified after Apple lost an antitrust suit brought by the US Justice Department in 2012.
The government had accused Apple of working with the publishers to raise prices of e-books so they could break free from the uniform US$9.99 pricing that Amazon had set for new e-book releases.
The amount Apple would actually have to pay in the class action depends on the outcome of Apple’s appeal in the antitrust suit. If Apple wins the appeal, it could pay nothing.
Five major publishers, including Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins, had also been named in the government’s antitrust suit, but they settled before the trial. The judge presiding over the case, Denise Cote of the US District Court in Manhattan, rendered a guilty verdict last summer.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said on Wednesday that the settlement reached with Apple was a victory for consumers.
“This settlement proves that even the biggest, most powerful companies in the world must play by the same rules as everyone else,” he said in a statement. “In a major victory, our settlement has the potential to result in Apple paying hundreds of millions of dollars to consumers to compensate them for paying unlawfully inflated e-book prices. We will continue to work with our colleagues in other states to ensure that all companies compete fairly with the knowledge that no one is above the law.”
Apple, in a statement, maintained its innocence and said it was still fighting the accusations through the appeal.
“We did nothing wrong and we believe a fair assessment of the facts will show it,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said.
“The iBooks Store has been good for consumers and the publishing industry as a whole, from well-known authors to first-time novelists. As we wait for the court to hear our appeal, we have agreed to a settlement, which is contingent on the outcome of the appeal. If we are vindicated by the appeals court, no settlement will be paid,” she added.
Meanwhile, the publishing industry continues to feel pressure from Amazon, which is by far the biggest retailer in e-books.
The latest struggle between publishers and Amazon became public in May. Amazon had sought concessions on book sales from Hachette, the fourth-largest publisher, which the publisher was unwilling to give. So Amazon sought to get its way by delaying delivery of Hachette books.
Napoleon Osorio is proud of being the first taxi driver to have accepted payment in bitcoin in the first country in the world to make the cryptocurrency legal tender: El Salvador. He credits Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s decision to bank on bitcoin three years ago with changing his life. “Before I was unemployed... And now I have my own business,” said the 39-year-old businessman, who uses an app to charge for rides in bitcoin and now runs his own car rental company. Three years ago the leader of the Central American nation took a huge gamble when he put bitcoin
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
RSS