e-books

Apple: E-book pricing verdict could have 'chilling effect'

NEW YORK -- Apple warned that a guilty verdict in its e-book price-fixing case could have a negative impact on how digital media deals are negotiated in the U.S, the company said Thursday in its closing arguments.

But the U.S. Department of Justice, which initially sued Apple and a handful of the nation's largest publishers early last year, said Apple and the publishers had two objectives when making their deals: raise e-book prices and restrain retail price competition to hurt Amazon.

Declaring that Apple violated antitrust laws and served as the ringleader in a conspiracy to change … Read more

Apple's Eddy Cue: Steve Jobs was confused in his e-mails

NEW YORK -- An e-mail from late Apple CEO Steve Jobs about e-book deal terms is no smoking gun, just a confused draft of a message, said a high-level Apple executive Monday during the e-books antitrust trial.

Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of software and services, testified that he never received an email from Jobs that said publishers would have to change their e-book sales terms with Amazon in order to reach an agreement with Apple. Cue said he didn't receive any of the four other drafts of the message, either.

Furthermore, Cue said there's no … Read more

Apple holds a quarter of e-book market, Eddy Cue says

NEW YORK -- Apple sells about a quarter of all e-books in the market, a high-level executive at the electronics giant said Monday.

Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of software and services, estimated that Apple holds a 25 percent share of the market, about on par with Barnes & Noble. He noted the two companies often flip the ranking, with Barnes & Noble sometimes having a higher share than Apple.

"I believe it's close," Cue said in his testimony Monday during Apple's e-book pricing trial. "At different times, we go back and forth.&… Read more

Apple e-book trial: How the case has unfolded so far

Apple's e-book pricing trial has brought its fair share of funny moments and tense exchanges.

The Justice Department, which initially sued Apple and a handful of the nation's largest publishers slightly more than a year ago, contends Apple forced publishers to move to a model that artificially inflated the prices of digital books and hurt consumers. Apple has argued that it wasn't trying to change in the industry and that it was only trying to secure the best deal for itself.

With two weeks down and one week to go, most of the key witnesses have testified. … Read more

Review: SpeakText for eBook loads and reads out eBook files on your phone

SpeakText for eBook is another in a long line of SpeakText apps that offer a useful text-to-speech tool in a dated and often confusing interface. While the core functionality of the app works well, it is often frustratingly hard to navigate and there are a number of limitations that will make the app less useful in certain situations.

There are two functions in SpeakText for eBooks. You can load an eBook into the app directly, choosing from anything in your documents folder, or you can type text into the interface and it will be read by the system voice. Both … Read more

Apple's Eddy Cue: Yep, we caused e-book pricing to rise

NEW YORK -- A high-level Apple executive admitted his company's deal with publishers caused some e-book prices to rise, giving weight to the government's accusation that Apple's machinations hurt consumers.

Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet software and services, who took the stand Thursday in district court in lower Manhattan, also said Apple considered splitting the market with Amazon in a setup where Apple would control the music market, while Amazon would monopolize books.

Cue's testimony marks a pivotal point in the trial, in which the Justice Department is attempting to prove that … Read more

Apple fires back at DOJ with actual e-mail from Jobs

After the Justice Department presented an e-mail Wednesday that appeared to undermine Apple's e-book antitrust defense, the company submitted the actual e-mail as sent by then-CEO Steve Jobs to Eddy Cue, showing content and tone that differed from the draft version.

Apple, which is accused of conspiring with book publishers to fix e-book prices, has maintained that it was uninterested in the pricing models used by publishers in deals with other retailers. The Justice Department submitted a terse e-mail sent by Jobs to Cue, who oversees all of Apple's digital stores and its Web services, that it said … Read more

Amazon Kindle debuts in China

The Amazon Kindle has officially landed in China.

On Friday, both the Kindle Fire HD tablet and the Kindle Paperwhite e-reader popped up for sale on Amazon's Chinese Web site. The Fire HD tablet costs 1,499 yuan ($244) for the 16GB version and 1,799 yuan ($293) for the 32GB version, while the Paperwhite e-reader costs 849 yuan ($138).

The Kindle devices will also be sold locally through Suning and Tesco Shi, two retail chains in China, according to Chinese news site Sina Tech. Chinese consumers will be able to find the Kindles at stores in Beijing, Shanghai, … Read more

Apple hammers Google witness hard in e-book pricing trial

NEW YORK -- Apple had a field day with Google in court here on Thursday.

Apple started to pick away at the Department of Justice's claim that the tech giant conspired to inflate e-book prices by repeatedly and rapidly firing questions at a key Google witness.

The tactic paid off for lead Apple attorney Orin Snyder, who began to wear down on Thomas Turvey, director of strategic relationships for Google. Turvey appeared increasingly frazzled and frustrated as the afternoon went on.

During his testimony, Turvey admitted that he couldn't remember which publishing executives he spoke to, the circumstances … Read more