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Apple says Department of Justice "sides with monopoly"
In Apple's eye, the U.S. government has cast its lot with monopolies. Apple's legal response to the Department of Justice lawsuit, which the company filed May 22, claims that the case against Apple and other publishers over ebook pricing is "is fundamentally flawed as a matter of fact and law." As Ars Technica points out, Apple paints itself as a savior of ebook pricing, and that its entry into the ebook market allowed growth in the industry. Furthermore, Apple says that the request for relief, as filed by the Department of Justice, is not in the best interests of the public. This relief would be doing away with the agency model pricing of ebooks and reworking Apple's deals with the publishers involved. The 31-page response can be found here. It echos earlier statements Apple made after the lawsuit was filed in April.
iBook Lessons: The long and short of ebook submission review times
iBook Lessons is a continuing series about ebook writing and publishing. Last Autumn, after Apple launched the iPhone 4S, Steve Sande and I wrote Talking to Siri. It took several weeks to move through Apple review. Throughout all that time, people kept asking us, "Aren't you going to offer an iBooks version?" and we were all, "Patience, all in the fullness of time." The fullness of time, in that case, was almost a month. Since then, Apple has made major internal changes that have sped up the approval process for both books and applications. Last week, Steve and I submitted Pitch Perfect, our new book about communicating with blogs. It was greenlit in hours. Hours. To get a sense of why we were so stunned by this, compare and contrast with another book we submitted several weeks ago: Getting Ready for Mountain Lion. It's a short how-to that discusses how to prepare your computer for the coming upgrade. Our EPUB version went live just about the time Pitch Perfect did. (Yes, your votes did matter.) The iBooks Author version, the one with the video introduction and the pretty page layouts, is still in review, about three weeks after we first submitted it. So what's an author to do? With Amazon, you can usually count on a book making it through review in a few days. Our quickest turn-around (for Pitch Perfect, incidentally) was several hours. We submitted midday, and it was live before we finished the workday. Our longest was over a weekend. I don't think we've ever exceeded 72 hours with Amazon review. With iTunes, however, all you get is a status: "Not on 32 stores". As with application review, there's no indication that lets you know where the book is in its progress to the iBooks store and what might be holding it up. Because we have the zen attitudes and relative attention span of three year olds, we decided to contact iTunes and submit a support query to a rep. We wanted to know how the book was doing and when we might expect it to be approved. The problem with the "Contact us" option in iTunes Connect is that there are few ways to actually contact Apple. Most choices lead you to a FAQ page rather than a contact form. We discovered that obvious choices like "Manage Your Books > Book Status > Checking Status" got us nowhere. After some digging, we finally discovered "Content Status Inquiries > Unknown Issue", which finally allowed us to submit a request about a "Content Status error". Our book had been in review for several weeks, which we felt was a reasonable "status error" as far as we're concerned. We filled out the form and shot it off. About a week later, we've still never heard back. Now, be aware that working with iBooks Author material comes with a warning that quality assurance can take "up to 2 weeks" to process, depending on a book's complexity. Our Mountain Lion book isn't particularly complex and we exceeded that 2 week period early last week. For now, we're repeating mantras like "It will pub when it pubs" and "Be a leaf in the Apple iBooks wind, traveling without complaint or direction", but it would be awfully nice if we had access to a little more feedback during the process. Have you dealt with long review times with iBooks? How did things work out for you? Drop a comment and share your story.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Where should I buy my George R. R. Martin fix?
Dear Aunt TUAW, I want to buy "A Dance with Dragons" as an eBook and I am hesitating between buying it for Kindle or iBooks, the reason being the Kindle version will be available on my Mac, my iPhone and my iPad. Is it possible to do the same if I buy it for iBooks or will I be "stuck" with reading on my iPhone and iPad? Your loving nephew, Andre Dear Andre, Although Auntie is looking forward to iBooks for Mountain Lion, she's not holding her breath either. Apple hasn't announced it. The practical answer is that Kindle books can be read anywhere: from Macs to Windows, Linux to Android, iOS to webOS. Plus, Kindle books can be loaned. iBooks is iOS-only. So yes, if you buy it for iBooks, you'll be "stuck" reading on your iPhone or iPad, which isn't a horrible thing for most people but keeps you from reading it on your Mac. Hugs, Auntie T.
Nokia Reading opens its pages to select European nations, more to follow
Nokia's not shy when it comes to decorating the Lumia halls with proprietary and partnership apps. The latest addition? That Nokia Reading app we first saw announced at MWC. Owners of Lumia 900, 800, 710 and 610 phones in France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and the UK will be able to get their thumbs amidst those digital pages over the next few weeks, while unspecified "other" countries can look forward to it some time later in the year. Espoo is keen to point out that there'll be an emphasis on "own language" titles, but also a large collection of English language best sellers for which translations aren't available. It's just the written word for now, but audio books and news feeds will be introduced later. Let's just hope you finish reading The Color Purple by then.
Harry Potter e-book loaners coming to your Kindle, if you're Primed
Amazon will never run out of copies of Harry Potter e-books from its Lending Library. Thanks to a new agreement with Pottermore, on June 19th the entire seven-book collection will be among the 140,000 plus you can grab, provided, of course, that you're an Amazon Prime member. If you've forked over the $79 yearly membership fee, you'll have no due date or waiting, and all your highlights and bookmarks will be saved if you need to re-borrow. Unlike your local library, you can only take out one at a time, but at least you won't have to line up behind all the Muggles to get it.
Yes, people still read: e-book sales by UK publishers grew 54 percent in 2011
All hail the e-book! Seriously, if it weren't for this marvelous literary development, try saying with a straight face that you wouldn't at least take pause before adding a new title to your collection. Numbers are in from The Publisher's Association -- a group of 120 companies across the trade in the UK -- which reveals that e-book digital sales have increased 54 percent for the year 2011, and of that statistic, 13 percent of revenues came from academic and professional titles. As a sign of changing preferences, the total sales of both e-books and their traditional counterparts fell by two percent during the year -- and let's be honest, it's not hard to see which group fell short. Also reflective of the shift is the fact that average book prices fell by 1.3 percent during the year, which compares favorably to the UK's current inflation rate of 4.47 percent. Those interested in the full story will find the PR after the break.
3M launches its Cloud Library e-book lending service, hardware and apps in tow
Almost a year after it was first announced 3M's Cloud Library e-book lending service is getting a proper rollout. Introduced today at a beta site in St. Paul, the system is now ready for its kiosks, e-readers and apps to hit the hands and eyes of library patrons. The touch-based Discovery Terminals allow catalog browsing for visitors and selections can be checked out -- along with 3M's eReaders -- like other library materials. Already have a mobile device? E-books will play nicely with your iPad, Nook or Android device via the Cloud Library app. If you find yourself needing to read a bit on your computer, checked out items are compatible with both PCs and Macs as well. "With this technology, we are able to offer cutting-edge technology to all our patrons, whether they own their own e-reader or not," said Kit Hadley, director of the Saint Paul Public Library. A handful of other library systems across the US have also implemented the service. The list of those sites and all details on the introductory period await your click in the PR below.
Amazon introduces Send to Kindle for Mac
Amazon has released its Send to Kindle for the Mac, which allows users to drag-and-drop personal documents to an app that automatically sends them to their Kindle. It also adds the ability to use the print menu from any Mac application that has one to send a document to the Kindle. Users can also right-click on documents in Finder and select the "Send to Kindle" option from there. Selecting the option from either the print menu or Finder will launch the Send to Kindle app. Send to Kindle requires a Mac running OS X 10.6 or higher.
Ex-WSJ publisher: Apple's 30% profit sharing ebook agency model is not a conspiracy
As Apple prepares to go to trial to fight the US Department of Justice's claims that the Cupertino company conspired to fix ebook prices with publishers, former publisher of the Wall Street Journal L. Gordon Crovitz has an interesting oped in today's paper which he says that Apple's 30% profit sharing "agency model" with ebook publishers does not amount to the price fixing conspiracy that the DOJ accuses the company of. It is Crovitz's contention (as I assume Apple will also argue the same in court) that the government's assertion that the agency model is "inherently wrong" is false. The agency model means publishers, rather than resellers, set the prices of ebooks. Matter of fact, Crovitz says that Apple's agency model is not only good for Apple, but good for consumers and publishers as well, insisting that instead of conspiring to fix prices, they conspired to fix a broken ebook system in which Amazon controlled almost everything: Publishers conspired to repair an anticompetitive business model. They thought it made no sense for Amazon's Kindle to have a 90% market share and a single loss-leader price of $9.95 for consumers. They were right. Over the past couple of years, thanks to the agency model, the Kindle's market share has fallen to 60% thanks to competition from iPads and Barnes & Noble Nooks, and there is more variation in consumer prices, typically ranging from $5.95 to $14.95. Of noted interested is when Crovitz relates how he met with Apple's Eddy Cue to discuss the terms of revenue sharing for published works. Expecting a better deal than the 30% take Apple generates from apps Crovitz was a bit surprised when Cue told him, "'I don't think you understand. We can't treat newspapers or magazines any differently than we treat FarmVille." As Crovitz states: "It was a sobering reminder that traditional media brands have no preferred place in the new digital world."
Kindle Touch gets early release in UK and Germany (update)
Amazon is now shipping preorders for its Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G in both the UK and Germany, a week ahead of schedule. While eager e-reader... readers in the likes of France, Italy and Spain have to wait a little longer, Germans and Brits can expect their orders to arrive starting tomorrow, with stock also available in bricks-and-mortar options including John Lewis, Dixons, Argos, Carphone Warehouse, Currys, PC World and Tesco. Alas, there's still no news of a Eurozone arrival date for the Kindle Fire. We assume our European readers are still willing to wait, right? Update: Amazon has contacted us stating that the devices have actually "started shipping to customers in France, Italy and Spain from the respective sites (Amazon.fr, .it and .es), as well as the UK and DE."
Apple officially responds to DOJ's antitrust case
Apple has officially responded to the antitrust claim brought against the company by the US Department of Justice. In the claim the DOJ says that Apple worked with five major publishers to illegally fix eBook pricing. In response to the lawsuit Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told AllThingsD: The DOJ's accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon's monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from eBooks that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we've allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore. Three of the five major publishers -- Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster -- have already settled with the DOJ. However, Penguin Group and MacMillan have vowed to fight the suit along with Apple. However, leading antitrust experts say that the DOJ has a "far better case" for price fixing among the publishers than they do against Apple. One reason is that Apple was allegedly not present at meetings with the five publisher when they decided to fix eBook pricing. Another reason: it's hard to bring an antitrust case against a company who only controls 10% of the eBook market through its iBookstore. Amazon, on the other hand, has a 90% share of the eBook market.
Reuters: Justice Department ready to sue Apple over ebook price fixing (Updated)
A report from Reuters suggests the Department of Justice could file a lawsuit against Apple today over alleged ebook price fixing. Publishers involved in the price-fixing scheme are supposedly settling with the government, while Apple has stayed out of the negotiations. As a result, Apple could face legal action by the government as early as Wednesday. Reuters reached out to Apple and the company declined to comment. Update: The Justice Department released its official statement on Wednesday afternoon. The DOJ confirmed it filed an antitrust lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Apple and five book publishers including Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, Penguin Group (USA) and Macmillan. Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster agreed to a settlement for alleged ebook pricing fixing, while Apple, MacMillan and Penguin Group are fighting the charges in court. The settlement requires these publishers to let Amazon and other retailers lower the price of digital books. It also ends "their anticompetitive most-favored-nation agreements" with Apple and other ebook sellers.
Illuminated Kindle e-readers could arrive this year, also, might not
Rumors relating to a new Kindle, or three, land in our inbox with surprising frequency, but when they come from our brethren at TechCrunch, we'll definitely give it a listen. Devin Coldewey reports how he was lucky enough to snatch a glance at an in-development Kindle, which sports an illuminated screen. Amazon's purchase of Finnish firm Oy Modilis, which has a quiver of patents pertaining to lighting technology, adds credence to the idea that an e-reader with some form of lighting could be in the works, and Coldewey thinks he's seen it. He says tapping the screen reveals a slider that, when dragged to the right, "lit up evenly with a rather cool light." Importantly -- for eyes and batteries alike -- the light is said to be softer, and of a gentler blue-white color, compared to the harsh white common in LCDs. The loose-lipped wielder of this device claims that the industrial design isn't finished yet, but did hint at a 2012 release. We're not holding our breath, but the chance to do away with additional light accessories, is definitely enough to have us keep our fingers crossed.
Daily Update for April 5, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Apple reportedly stays out of ebook settlement talks
Apple doesn't appear to be rushing to settle antitrust claims in the price-fixing investigation into ebooks. The Wall Street Journal and others are reporting today that Apple and two other publishers are reluctant to settle, according to people knowledgeable about the investigation. There are price-fixing probes active in both in the US and Europe. If a deal can't be reached, the matter will escalate into a full-blown lawsuit from government regulators. The issue stems from allegations that Apple and 5 publishers decided together to fix the price of ebooks using the so-called 'agency pricing model', where publishers set a price and take a 30% cut. All the companies could receive massive fines if they are found guilty. The pricing method came about as Apple and publishers tried to compete against Amazon, which was discounting books -- sometimes taking a loss -- to sell the Kindle.
PSA: Nook Tablet can be repartitioned in-store, Android app adds comic support
Did you take umbrage with Barnes & Noble's efforts to hoard all your Nook Tablet storage for its own content? Well, the book seller has made good on its promise to reassign a portion of your 16GB hard drive, opening up 8GB for personal content and leaving 5.5GB for Nook Shop content. As we said before, you'll need to physically take your Nook Tablet to the bricks and mortar outlets to get the storage tweak. Readers that decided to go for other Android-laced tablets have also been gifted with a Nook app update, adding support for comics and related graphical literature -- just make sure that the slab is running Android 2.2 or higher.
McGraw Hill VP bullish on $399 iPad 2 for students
At Apple's education keynote in January, McGraw Hill Education was announced as one of the partners in the initiative to move textbooks to a digital format. The company's vice president of new ventures, Vineet Madan, is impressed with the power and display of the new iPad, but says he thinks that the newly discounted iPad 2 gives more schools a chance to deploy iPads to their students. In an interview with Talking Points Memo, Madan said that "I've long thought that the tipping-point price for a tablet is between $200 and $300. Now that the entry-level iPad 2 has dropped by $100, and it's now $399 for a 16 gigabyte version, we'll see much more uptake." McGraw Hill currently has five K-12 textbooks available, as well as over 50 iPad textbooks aimed at the higher education and professional market through partner Inkling. Although the existing e-textbooks use interactive features, Madan feels that the new iPad's Retina display, 4G network support and 10-hour battery life can make life easier for textbook readers and creators. Speaking about LTE, Madan said "You could be anywhere and can immediately pull up all sorts of high-res, data-rich content. You can stream it instantaneously and you don't have pulling down gigs and gigs of content and storing it on the app locally." Madan also sees the high resolution Retina display as a way to "really unlock the potential of 'pinch to zoom' functionality" in textbooks.
Scholastic releases iPad e-reader app for kids
According to PaidContent, Scholastic brought its catalog of children's books to the iPad. The recently updated Storia app taps into Scholastic's ebook store which boasts of over 1,000 children's titles. The titles in the bookstore are organized by grade level, reading level, age and character/series. When you download the Storia app, you'll get five free ebooks so you can try out the app without any upfront cost. If you like the app, you can sign up for a Scholastic.com account, and purchase titles that your children can read on your iPad. Besides standard ebooks, there's also 150+ enhanced titles that include games and other interactive content. The Storia app also tracks the child's reading progress and lets you manage different bookshelves for multiple children. The Storia app is available for free from the iOS App Store. Books cost from US$0.99 to $9.99.
Department of Justice reportedly planning antitrust suit against Apple
According to a Wall Street Journal Report, the Department of Justice is threatening to sue Apple and five book publishers for artificially inflating the price of ebooks. The five book publishers include Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group, Pearson PLC's Penguin Group, Macmillan and HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. The investigation centers on Apple's agency model pricing for ebooks in the iBookstore. Instead of a wholesale model that Amazon was using, Apple pushed for an agency model which let publishers set book prices and Apple would take a 30 percent cut. Amazon, however, was using a wholesale model which let them sell books for $10 or less. This pricing model was upsetting to publishers who were concerned customers would get used to the low prices. Publishers used Apple's agency model agreement to strongarm Amazon into adopting the same pricing model and it agreed. As a result, ebook prices on Amazon's Kindle store increased.
Google Play replaces Android Market, new source for apps, books, movies and music (video)
The Android Market has morphed significantly since its inception, which now allows users to purchase books, music and rent movies, all from within a hub that was originally designed for just apps. To recognize this fundamental shift -- and emphasize the availability of content for sale -- Google is launching a new platform known as Google Play. The move hints at a strategy shift from just Android to the cloud as a whole, and establishes an umbrella brand for the diverse content sold by Google. For example, its Books, Music and Videos apps will now become Play Books, Play Music and Play Movies, while the Android Market itself will take on the moniker of Play Store. Users of Android 2.2 (and above) should notice the software update within the next few days, although other than the new name, initial changes should be minimal. We're also to be on the lookout for a new "Play" tab within the top toolbar of Google's website. To mark the occasion, the company has announced a promotional "Seven Days to Play" sale, which will tease would-be shoppers with discounted apps, books, movies and music throughout the week. For an additional peek at what's in store, you'll find the gallery below and a video after the break.%Gallery-149774%
