Retort

Apple: E-Book Claims ‘Not True’

Justice Dept. suing Apple, 5 publishers.

Apple said Thursday night that claims that it colluded with book publishers on e-book prices are “simply not true.” “The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry,” a spokeswoman said, ending the company’s silence on the suit, filed Wednesday morning. The antitrust suit claims that Apple allowed publishers to set their own prices on Apple’s site, but only if the publishers agreed not to price their e-books lower on any other sites, Amazon included. The Apple spokeswoman compared the practice to that of their app store: “Just as we’ve allowed developers to set prices on the app store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore.”