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Apple and Amazon agree to end exclusive audiobook deal
For over a decade, Apple and Audible (an Amazon company) have enjoyed an exclusivity agreement that restricted the sale of digital audiobooks. The deal ensured that Apple would only source Audible releases and that Audible would only sell its work via one platform: iTunes. The practice has helped both companies hold almost unassailable positions in the audiobook market, which led to a complaint by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association (Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels) back in November 2015. After more than a year of discussions with German competition watchdog, the Bundeskartellamt, and with help from the European Commission, Apple and Amazon have agreed to terminate their existing deal, allowing Audible audiobooks to be sold via other digital music platforms.
