The US Department of Justice announced April 11 it was suing Apple and 5 major international publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster) for allegedly conspiring to fix — and subsequently increase — the price of ebooks in a bid to “require them to grant retailers — such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble — the freedom to reduce the prices of their ebook titles.” Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster have since settled their suits (see Publishers Weekly, “The Broad Strokes of the Hachette, HarperCollins, and S&S Price-Fixing Settlement”).
Read the summary by The Wall Street Journal, “Publishers Seek to Resolve Ebook Case” and the paper by Knowledge@Wharton (@knowledgewharton), "Ebook Price-Fixing: Finding the Best Model for Publishers — and Readers."
Coverage of the news by The New York Times includes “Book Publishing’s Real Nemesis,” “Competition Needs Protection,” and “Cut in Ebook Pricing by Amazon Is Set to Shake Rivals.”
For an historical perspective on the matter, see this NPR commentary by Jason Boog (@jasonboog), editor of GalleyCat (@GalleyCat).
“This wasn't the first time the industry had needed a quick and dirty price fix. During the Great Depression, publishers faced off against another seemingly invincible retail juggernaut: Macy's Department Stores.”
On ZDNet, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes (@the_pc_doc) expands the topic and asks, “Should the DoJ investigate ebook DRM and hardware lock-in?”
“For example, Apple only offers iBooks on the iOS platform, so when one day your favorite iDevice goes the way of all electronic devices, you either have to buy a new device or lose your entire iBooks investment.”
Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you navigate the turbulent seas of ebook publishing.
And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.