While I was away from Ditchwalk last year the legal system meted out punishment regarding Apple’s conspiratorial efforts to fix the price of e-books on an industry-wide basis:
As punishment for engaging in an e-book price-fixing conspiracy, Apple will be forced to abide by new restrictions on its agreements with publishers and be evaluated by an external “compliance officer” for two years, a federal judge has ruled.
Though the punishment is comically light, Apple remains determined to clear its tainted name:
Cupertino is not pleased, for example, to have an antitrust monitor who is responsible for making sure it does not violate antitrust rules going forward. Attorney Michael R. Bromwich was selected to serve as monitor, and Apple asked that his tenure be delayed pending appeal, but Judge Denise Cote denied that request last week.
Now, in filings with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Apple is arguing that it had no idea that publishers were colluding about e-book prices, according to Reuters. Any discussions it had with publishers were simply to boost competition “in a highly concentrated market.”
So on one hand Apple is a shining light of innovation, forward thinking and marketing brilliance, while on the other it’s a company run by dolts too stupid to realize that the relationships Apple entered into with multiple publishers at the exact same time and under the exact same terms constituted a federal crime. Good to know.
— Mark Barrett
Apple has their scum ball side. They are proprietary and litigious and they steal ideas left and right. It’s the genius of their marketing that it elicits surprise when they act like what they are: A money-grubbing, me-first, corporation.
Bottom line to me is that they make a great product. I use Apple laptops, desk tops, iPad, iPhone, iTunes. I used to have a PC but Apple offers such a superior product that I dumped my PC a decade ago. I view Apple like I do the NFL. I may not like the sins, but I love the sinner.
Got an Apple settlement payment today for some kind of price fixing they were involved in. A fat $3.65 went directly into my iTunes account. Can’t argue with that!