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Australia pondering joining e-book lawsuit bandwagon

Daniel Cooper — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 06:01:00 EST

If Apple and the Big Five thought they only had to contend with a federal e-book lawsuit in the US, they'd better think again. Australia's Competition and Consumer Commission is inviting local businesses to raise formal concerns as it weighs up launching its own judicial broadside against the alleged cartel. The Commission refused to comment publicly on its plans beyond saying that it was "aware of the latest developments" and would listen to local resellers who had concerns about the Australian market. While Simon & Schuster, Hachette and HarperCollins made back-room deals with the DoJ yesterday, they'd still be involved (at least initially) with the second front of this conflict. Meanwhile, the threat remains of the European Union joining in: turning it from a spot of local trouble into a global courtroom battle for the future of e-book pricing.

Australia pondering joining e-book lawsuit bandwagon originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Apr 2012 06:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Three iPad giveaways in three days: day one, courtesy of Wonders of the Universe!

Brad Molen — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:01:00 EST

The response has been absolutely amazing since we began our regular series of giveaways two months ago. As a way of showing our gratitude -- not to mention the fact that these contests aren't going away anytime soon -- we're offering up three new iPads over the next three days! That's right, you'll have the chance to win one of Apple's latest tablets each day through Friday.

Let's meet our first contestant. We have a 16GB WiFi-only iPad up for grabs, courtesy of HarperCollins and its new app called "Wonders of the Universe." The astronomy app was designed for iOS5 and takes full advantage of the new iPad's Retina display. It essentially combines seven programs into one, offering a visual experience that lets you explore the Universe from subatomic levels all the way up to full galaxies. So read the rules, leave a comment and you've successfully entered to win for the first day! But you'll need to come back tomorrow and Friday if you want to take a shot at the other two.

Continue reading Three iPad giveaways in three days: day one, courtesy of Wonders of the Universe!

Three iPad giveaways in three days: day one, courtesy of Wonders of the Universe! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Justice Department formally charges Apple, big five publishers in e-book price fixing case (update)

Daniel Cooper — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:10:00 EST

The Justice Department has formally decided to sue Apple, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillian, Penguin and Simon & Schuster over alleged e-book price-rigging. Apple and Macmillian have already denied any wrongdoing, saying that the agreements were enhancing competition in an industry previously dominated by Amazon. The case centers around a deal to switch to agency pricing, where the vendor takes a 30 percent cut of each sale rather than the wholesale model which allows stores to sell books at rock-bottom prices. It was previously believed that the publishers had cut back-room deals with the Government agency after bowing to pressure to withdraw Cupertino's "favored nation" status. If successful, the DoJ will allow Amazon and Barnes and Noble amongst others to return to the wholesale model to sell best-sellers at a loss, something that the big five are desperate to avoid, and will look to fight the battle in court.

Update: The PDF of the DoJ's filing is now available online -- it makes for fascinating reading.

Update 2: Bloomberg is now reporting that Simon & Schuster, Lagardère SCA's Hachette Book Group and HarperCollins have settled with the DoJ over unspecified terms. Hasty!

Justice Department formally charges Apple, big five publishers in e-book price fixing case (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Justice Department preparing Apple iBooks antitrust lawsuit

Daniel Cooper — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:50:00 EST

The Justice Department is reportedly preparing to go after Apple, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Penguin, Macmillan and HarperCollins following its investigation into alleged e-book price-rigging. The case centers around a deal to switch to agency pricing, where the vendor takes a 30 percent cut of each sale, rather than the wholesale model that gives publishers more flexibility to reduce prices or even sell e-books at a loss. Some publishers are now trying to agree on a new policy in an effort to stave off the kind of federal suit that nobody wants to wear.

Justice Department preparing Apple iBooks antitrust lawsuit originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple and major publishers investigated for e-book price fixing in Europe

Sharif Sakr — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 07:03:00 EST

The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation into some of the world's largest publishers following a series of unannounced inspections back in March. Hachette Libre, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and the German owner of Macmillan are all suspected of "anti-competitive practices" in the way they've sold e-books in Europe, "possibly with the help of Apple." Read on for the full press release.

Continue reading Apple and major publishers investigated for e-book price fixing in Europe

Apple and major publishers investigated for e-book price fixing in Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Dec 2011 07:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Publisher starts annual e-book licensing for libraries, attempts blood extraction from stone

Michael Gorman — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 23:44:00 EST

Public libraries are en vogue again now that e-readers and e-books are so popular, and publishers are wary of the trend. To the dismay of many and the surprise of few, HarperCollins Publishers has set its e-books to expire after 26 rentals -- effectively giving them around a one-year shelf life (assuming 2 weeks per rental x 26 = 52 weeks). So now cash-strapped public libraries have to pony up license fees on an annual basis because the publisher is concerned that "selling e-books to libraries in perpetuity, if left unchanged, would undermine the emerging e-book ecosystem." In other words, HarperCollins thinks lending e-books is costing the company money it could make selling them. The publisher is the first to treat library e-books differently from hard copies, and the policy change has caused some librarians to stop purchasing HarperCollins e-books. Should the new licensing scheme become a trend, we shall see if libraries are forced to stop the electronic lending party.

[Thanks, Scott]

Publisher starts annual e-book licensing for libraries, attempts blood extraction from stone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Mar 2011 23:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon agrees to agency pricing model with two more publishers, Jobs prophecy coming to pass

Vlad Savov — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 03:58:00 EST

Time to add HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster to the list of publishers who've managed to strongarm Amazon into acceding to their supposedly industry-saving agency pricing model. Under the new agreement, you might still see e-book versions of bestsellers priced at the familiar $9.99, but the majority will be jumping up to $12.99 and $14.99 price points, depending on the publisher's discretion. This is essentially the same deal that brought Macmillan books back to Amazon.com, and the e-tailer is believed to also be in advanced negotiations with Hatchette Book Group and Penguin Group to ensure that no book is left behind. This development was cryptically predicted by Steve Jobs mere hours after the iPad's launch and then reiterated by Rupert Murdoch with regard to HarperCollins, so we can't exactly act surprised now, but we can at least grimace a little at having to face a more expensive e-reading future.

Amazon agrees to agency pricing model with two more publishers, Jobs prophecy coming to pass originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Apr 2010 03:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WSJ: Apple wants e-books to be $12.99 or $14.99 for hardcover best sellers

Ross Miller — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:47:00 EST

Here's a little price snippet on Apple's e-book plans, care of an eleventh hour Wall Street Journal piece. According to the article, the gang in Cupertino is asking book publishers (HarperCollins was specifically cited) to set the price point for digital versions of hardcover bestsellers at either $12.99 or $14.00, "with fewer titles offered at $9.99." The publisher apparently has the option to set its own price, but at any rate, Apple's taking the usual 30% cut from each sale -- a $14.99 novel would thus leave about $10.49 for the publisher. Nothing else to glean from this other than a rather strongly-phrased assertion that tomorrow's tablet has a 10-inch touchscreen, but no indication on where that's coming from. These prices would put Apple's selection at a premium compared with Amazon and its Kindle store, but perhaps it'll also be bypassing any rumored digital delay on new works -- question is, if Apple really is entering the e-book business and bringing with it higher prices, will it let us import our digital books purchased from other stores? What say you, Mr. McGraw?

WSJ: Apple wants e-books to be $12.99 or $14.99 for hardcover best sellers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WSJ: Apple tablet to have books, games, music, TV, will make sandwiches

Ross Miller — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:54:00 EST

The Wall Street Journal just laid out a doozy of an Apple tablet rumor piece, all from anonymous sources, "people familiar with the matter," and the like. There's a lot to go through, so without further ado:

The tablet will come with a virtual keyboard -- kind of a no-brainer if it's gonna be a keyboard-less tablet and not, say, another laptop.
Apple's been talking with The New York Times, Conde Nast, and HarperCollins / News Corp. over how they could collaborate. When asked, NYT Chairman Arthur Sulzberger would only say "stay tuned."
Electronic Arts has been working closely to prep games for the tablet. We know of a number of gaming journalists who've gotten invites to next week's event, and given Apple's heavy games push over the past year or so, this wouldn't surprise us in the least.
A reaffirmation of earlier murmurings about potentially swapping Google for Bing as the default search engine. Maps, too!
Those TV subscription rumors? Apparently the gang in Cupertino have been pitching a "best of TV" service that would package the best four to six shows per channel.
A web-based version of iTunes, tentatively called iTunes.com and potentially launching in June, for buying music outside of the dedicated app. Additionally, there'd be a new initiative "to populate as many webs ites as possible with 'buy' buttons, integrating iTunes transactions into activities like listening to internet radio and surfing review web sites." No mention if music will be downloaded or streamed from the cloud, but we can definitely see how Apple's recent Lala acquisition would play into this in the future -- in fact, we've already seen it start to bear fruit.
Here's a weird one: Apple has supposedly designed the tablet "so that it is intuitive to share." One such experiment is virtual sticky notes that launch for the intended recipient by facial recognition via built-in camera.

If nothing else, we're really looking forward to next week putting a large clamp on the torrent of tablet rumors that have have propagated the internet for the last few months.

WSJ: Apple tablet to have books, games, music, TV, will make sandwiches originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WSJ: Apple and HarperCollins negotiating e-book deal for tablet

Ross Miller — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:35:00 EST

Here's the skinny from The Wall Street Journal: major publishing company HarperCollins is in talks with Apple about bringing e-books to the oft-rumored, still-unconfirmed tablet that's expected to be the focus of its January 27th event. The article also states that other publishing companies have been in talks with Cupertino HQ. That jibes with what we've heard through the grapevine, specifically with Time Inc. property Sports Illustrated, and fits comfortably well with the New York Times conjecture from earlier today. E-book readers are all the rage these days, but like we said just after CES, we'd wager the future of the medium integrated into slates to provide rich, color multimedia presentations. Seems someone might be sharing in our perspective, but of course, this is just one of many, many, many Apple rumors we expect to see in the buildup to next week.

WSJ: Apple and HarperCollins negotiating e-book deal for tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HarperCollins now also thumbing nose at e-book industry with digital delay

Ross Miller — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:02:00 EST

Joining Simon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group (Stephanie Meyer, James Patterson) in delaying e-books months after their hardcover releases? HarperCollins, home to Neil Gaiman and the Lemony Snicket series. Beginning in 2010, five to ten books released each month will be given a physical head start lasting anywhere from four weeks to six months. Similar justification as before, the prevailing worry is that the cheaper digital copies so early in a title's release will make for "fewer literary choices for customers" because publishers won't be as willing to take a risk on new writers. It's not necessarily the most sound of arguments, but still we can imagine some short term harm to the e-book industry. Question is, how long can these arbitrary delays last?

[Thanks, Joe]

HarperCollins now also thumbing nose at e-book industry with digital delay originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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V-Books: the future

Paul Miller — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:39:00 EST

You know, once in a while you hear such a logical, well-thought-out idea that you start to wonder, even fear, that society will end up heading down some sort of interesting and completely boring path to productivity and peace. This is not that idea. HarperCollins has restored our faith in the wonderful futility of humanity with "Video Books." The publishing house is on the hook for six v-book versions of real books, which involve an ultra-abridged version of the title being spoken directly to the camera by the author. The first of these is Jeff Jarvis' book What Would Google Do?, which is 23 minutes of the man speaking to your face in front of a white backdrop, and retails for $10. We were hoping for something a bit more like Reading Rainbow, but we must admit the two minute preview we saw was strangely compelling. Authors receive 25 percent of the sales, on par with e-book rates, but can you really put a royalty rate on the future?

Read - HarperCollins Tries 'Video Books'
Read - What Would Google Do? V-Book

Filed under: Portable Video

V-Books: the future originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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