DOJ publicizes its case against Apple on first day of ‘ebook pricing fix’ trial

Zac Hall
(via AP)

(via AP)

The U.S. Department of Justice has released its case against Apple in the alleged ‘ebooks pricing fix’ case (via CNET) that claims Apple made deals with book publishers to manipulate the price of ebooks.

The Justice Department believes Apple moved to raise ebook prices before Apple launched the iPad and the iBookstore so the company could benefit at the cost of the consumer.

Notably, everyone mentioned in the complaint has settled out of court ahead of this week’s trial, but Tim Cook has remained adamant that Apple is innocent of any wrongdoing.

Apple’s iBookstore has established deals with all of the major book publishers and sells ebooks on its proprietary store for viewing on Apple’s iOS devices including the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

As we noted this morning, Tim Cook echoed this message at last week’s D11 conference:

The e-book case to me is bizarre. We’ve done nothing wrong there, and so we’re taking a very principled position. … We’re not going to sign something that says we did something we didn’t do. … So we’re going to fight.

The Justice Department released all 81 slides outlining its case against Apple, which you can view in its entirety below. Read more

Apple’s to DOJ: Publishers already decided to fix prices before iBookstore came along

Jordan Kahn

Image (1) iBookstore1.jpg for post 30622

In the ongoing e-book price fixing case with the Department of Justice, in which Apple is accused of conspiring with publishers to fix eBook pricing and cut out Amazon, Apple has again responded to the DOJ’s claims detailing the “tough negotiations” it went through with publishers. To further prove its point that it was not colluding with publishers to fix e-book pricing, Apple said it “one-on-one” and “contentious negotiations” at a time when publishers were already considering methods of getting Amazon to increase pricing: Read more

Apple’s Eddy Cue joins Ferrari’s board of directors

Jordan Kahn

Ferrari announced in a press release for its 2012 financials today that Apple’s Senior Vice President Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue is joining its board of directors. Ferrari chairperson Luca di Montezemolo made the announcement during a meeting of the company’s board of directors earlier today:

“I am delighted that Eddy Cue, one of the main driving forces behind Apple’s range of revolutionary products, has now joined our board. His huge experience in the dynamic, innovative world of the Internet will be of great assistance to us.”

Cue, who recently took on new responsibilities leading Siri and Maps following the departure of iOS chief Scott Forstall, also provided a statement regarding his nomination for the board:

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Apps & Updates

Bad Piggies, Kindle, Cut the Rope, National Geographic Magazine for iPhone, more

Jordan Kahn

Bad Piggies version 1.1.0: Rovio has updated its new Bad Piggies title with 15 new levels today, as well as a new free sandbox level. The update also includes its biggest sandbox level yet, called “Field of Dreams”, as an in-app purchase.

 The Bad piggies finally did it — they finally got the eggs! But can they hold on to them with the Angry Birds in hot pursuit? Even under the cover of darkness, they’ll need all of their best machines to stay ahead! 

-Fly through 15 tricky new levels with the birds on your tail!
-Take cover in a brand new moonlit theme!
-Unleash your creativity on a free new sandbox level!
-Introducing the Field of Dreams: Our biggest sandbox level yet, now available for purchase!

National Geographic Magazine version 2.1: With this update the free app is now available to National Geographic subscribers on the  iPhone:

• Now available for iPhone!

Kindle version 3.4: A nice update to the Kindle iOS app comes following Apple releasing new features for iBooks. The app now supports Japanese with vertical text & Manga, an option to read books in the publisher suggested font, and a new “Caecilia” font choice. Also included is X-Ray for Textbooks:

X-Ray for Textbooks gives you instant access to all the most important terms and concepts in a book, with glossary definitions, links to relevant textbook pages, and related content from Wikipedia and YouTube (available on many of the most popular print replica textbooks)

Cut the Rope version 2.0: Popular Chillingo title Cut the Rope is getting updated today with new levels, iPhone 5 and Game Center support, and more. The HD iPad version gets the same update.  Read more

Apps & Updates

iBooks 3.0 now available to download, adds iCloud purchase history and new scrolling theme

Jake Smith

As promised by Apple during its media event this afternoon, iBooks 3.0 is now available for users to download from the iTunes App Store. Haven’t heard? The updated app offers better integration with iCloud, and it now shows purchased books across your iTunes account on one shelf for more seamless reading. Furthermore, the folks in Cupertino have added a new scroll theme that allows users to “scroll vertically through books with the flick of a finger”—infinite scrolling. It’s a feature iPad mini users are sure to love.

Competing with a similar Kindle feature, Apple also made its iBooks platform a bit more social with this update. Users can now share their favorite quote over Facebook and Twitter—a much-requested feature among the more hardcore readers.

Lastly, in the 3.0 update, iBooks grabbed 40 more languages, including: Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. You can grab the update right on your iOS device from the App Store. For you book junkies, Apple also updated its iBooks Author software with new features this afternoon.

Full feature list below:

New iPod touch begins shipping to customers and showing up in Apple Retail Stores alongside iPod nanos

Jordan Kahn

Apple posted a user guide for the fifth-generation iPod touch to iBooks early this morning, indicating a retail launch for the device is coming sooner rather than later. Apple promised an October timeframe for preorders of the device shipping from its Online Store, but today we get word from readers that Apple is now shipping orders of the fifth-generation iPod touch, as well as the new iPod nano, with delivery expected early next week. The shipment notice above comes from a user in the United States with an expected delivery date of Oct. 15, but international users have reported receiving notices as well. The image below shows an expected delivery date of Oct. 15 from an Australian reader, while the new iPod nano is still listed as preparing for shipment. Yesterday, Apple started shipping orders for the 30-pin to Lightning adapter. Thanks, Penpal1278!

It also appears that Apple started to sell the new iPod touch and iPod nano in at least some of its retail locations:

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