Skip to main content

iBooks Store promoting George Orwell after Amazon incorrectly cites author in ebooks dispute

Is Apple once again using an iBooks promotion to quietly poke fun at Amazon’s ebooks dispute with the publisher Hachette? Re/code thinks so as it points out the iBooks Store this week is featuring famed author George Orwell for no other apparent reason.

So how do the dots connect back to Amazon? Earlier this month, the Amazon Books Team published an open letter urging customers to email Hachette’s CEO and side with Amazon over the pricing disputes between the two parties. Here’s where it gets interesting. In that letter Amazon turned to George Orwell’s ideas about paperback books, publishers, and book stores in the early twentieth century.

The famous author George Orwell came out publicly and said about the new paperback format, if “publishers had any sense, they would combine against them and suppress them.” Yes, George Orwell was suggesting collusion.

As the New York Times pointed out,

“The famous author George Orwell came out publicly and said about the new paperback format, if ‘publishers had any sense, they would combine against them and suppress them.’ Yes, George Orwell was suggesting collusion.”

Could the Amazon Books Team, which is credited as the source of this post, have really written this? Because a moment’s Googling would have revealed that the team is misrepresenting this “famous author.”

Definitely inside baseball and artfully subtle, but if featuring Orwell this week was anything aside from pure coincidence then the iBooks Store team is proving itself a witty competitor in all of this. Sure beats the usual ebooks saga that has plagued Apple in recent years.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

  1. Seif Mansour - 10 years ago

    Names are Fate & Destiny. Hachette is Derived form the word “Hache”, which means cut or strike. Hachette is a breakthrough in corruption and he is from Israel, he “cut and striked” George Orwell book by stealing and modifying it.

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.

Manage push notifications

notification icon
We would like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.
notification icon
Please wait...processing
notification icon
We would like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.
notification icon
Please wait...processing