DOJ Rules Against Apple in Anti-Trust Suit: The U.S. Department of Justice has ruled against Apple in the DOJ v. Apple anti-trust suit that alleged that Apple colluded with several major U.S. publishers in 2010 to force the number 1 seller of e-books in the U.S., Amazon, to accept what is called an Agency Model of pricing e-books. The term Agency Model basically means that publishers set the price of all their e-books instead of the e-book sellers and thus all e-book sellers that wish to sell e-books by publishers using the Agency Model must charge consumers whatever price the publishers set for their e-books to be allowed to sell them.
The DOJ has stated during the case that the Agency Model was adopted by Apple and five of the largest publishers in the U.S.* (all of the so-called Big Six publishers sans Random House) in response to Amazon undercutting other e-book sellers and in fact frequently selling e-books for a loss in order to sell more of its exceptionally popular Kindle e-readers. And indeed just after the Agency Model was implemented prices of most new e-books listed on Amazon went up a couple of dollars each, generally from $9.99 to $12.99, seeming just about overnight and just at the same time Apple was unveiling its first generation iPad which of course allowed iPad purchasers to buy e-books through Apple’s iBooks Store via the Agency Model pricing.
Apple spokesmen still insist they did nothing wrong in negotiation with publishers and agreeing to use the Agency Model to sell e-books via the iBooks Store and have said they will appeal the verdict which probably will translate into the case going before the Supreme Court.
So I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of this case!
Here’s a link to a Reuters article on the subject, titled Judge rules Apple conspired to raise prices on e-books, which offers more information on the subject:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/10/us-apple-ebooks-idUSBRE9690GE20130710
And another article on the same subject from the New York Times titled “Judge Rules Against Apple in E-Books Trial”
Improved Google Maps App: New York Times Tech guru David Pogue offers an article today on the new and improved Google Maps app for Android and iOS (Apple) devices. The new apps offer a speedier performance and better information on places – in fact Pogue glowingly notes of the improved apps that “Half the time, you don’t even need navigation instructions; you just use Google Maps as the world’s smartest Yellow Pages, to find a nearby restaurant, movie theater, drugstore or whatever;” and I think Pogue’s recommendation just about sums it up! If you’ve got an app device Google Maps is an indispensable tool!
Here’s a link to the Pogue column on the New York Times site:
iOS 7 Upgrade Changes: Every so often I say something about versions of iOS or Android and someone says to me – “What does that mean?”—and basically what the terms iOS and Android refer to is the stuff that makes the smartphones or tablets produced by Apple and a variety of Android tablet and smartphone makers, including Google, run. So an iOS upgrade means that Apple has, or as in this case is going to, improve the running system (aka mobile operating system) of its iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch models. And Apple usually unveils some neat extra bells and whistles functions – some extra icing on the cake if you will – with their upgrades so this fall when Apple upgrades its mobile iOS software to iOS 7 you should find some new features and a new look for your mobile Apple devices. The new Apple iOS is supposed to appear to have a flat type of more modern look than previous iOS versions and today word came that Apple is also changing the default text font for their mobile devices to Helvetica Neue from Helvetica Light so that too will make iPhones and iPads displays look just a bit different this fall!
Here’s a link to a CNET article on the subject titled “iOS 7 swaps skinny font for thicker one in typographic U-turn;”
And a second link to a Mashable video on the subject that offers a broader scope of information titled “Apple Releases iOS 7 Beta 3 and Other News You Need to Know:”
http://mashable.com/2013/07/09/apple-ios7-brief/
Have a great day!
Linda R.
*All the publishers settled the DOJ charges out of court before the anti-trust trial began.
References
Chen, Brian., & Bosman, Julie. (2013, July 10). Judge Rules Against Apple in E-Books Trial. New York Times. Online. Accessed July 10, 2013.
Pogue, David. (2013, July 10). A Better Google Maps App for Apple and Android Devices. New York Times. Online. Accessed July 10, 2013.
Raymond, Nate., & Stempel, Jonathan. (2013, July 10). Judge rules Apple conspired to raise prices on e-books. Reuters. Online. Accessed July 10, 2013. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/10/us-apple-ebooks-idUSBRE9690GE20130710
Schroeder, Stan. (2013, July 9). Apple Releases iOS 7 Beta 3 and Other News You Need to Know. Mashable. Online. Accessed July 10, 2013. http://mashable.com/2013/07/09/apple-ios7-brief/
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 