Recently, it has been discovered that Apple apple may have been involved with some electronic book price-fixing. Two publishers claimed that Apple and five other publishers were working together to end Amazon's low-cost electronic book sales.
In response to these claims, the U.S. anti-trust division of the Department of Justice has decided to investigate these claims and test their merits. This action has caused Apple to opt for trial in order to defend against the U.S. government's allegations towards the enterprise giant.
The hearing is scheduled for June 22.
The price fixing took place in early 2010 when the iPad was being introduced. Soon after, E-book prices went up approximately 3$ in a three day period.
Two publishers involved in the price-fixing agreed to pay $51 million in each state as restitution to customers who have bought e-books.
So, what do you guys think of this scandal? Do you think that it will drastically effect the Apple corporation or do you think this will barely dent the surface of their enterprise? Also, what is your personal opinion on this act committed by Apple? Do you believe these allegations are true?
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
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5 comments:
Apple will probably find a way to solve their way out of this, as they have been involved in a number of other litigations. I mean, heck, they were sued for having copyright on the iPad trademark that was supposedly already claimed by a computer company from China, and they're still going strong. Whether the allegations are true or not will have little impact on Apple's future as they can buy their way out of it or find a hole in a legal clause that will bail them out.
I agree with Vincent. I don't think that this will have that large an impact on Apple. The fact is, the iPod, iPhone, and iPad are way too high in demand for a thing like this to deter people to the extent where a huge company like Apple would feel the consequences. Now if Apple really was responsible for price-fixing, then I think they should pay some sort of consequence, but the reality is that, yes, people may have a lesser opinion of Apple, but their products will still be bought. It's a sad reality, but that is my prediction.
Accusations such as these against Apple are incredibly common among the titans of industry, including Google and Microsoft. This is why these companies have such expansive litigation teams, devoted to fending off the numerous lawsuits that are thrown their way on a daily basis. While much of these accusations are bogus, it is interesting of note that the government has stepped in and is suing. This might prove a more difficult trial than Apple has seen in a while. But as Vincent and Patrick already made clear, Apple will most likely walk away from these accusations unscathed. With the market for apple products in its current state, I can’t see any penalty levied against Apple really having the intended effect, or even denting the company’s annual profits.
I don't think this scandal will have too large an impact on Apple as a whole. Frankly, I had never even heard of this "price-fixing scandal" until reading this post just now. Even if this scandal were to receive more publicity and media coverage, I think the demand for Apple products is just too high and will not be compromised by this piece of news.
As the previous commenters have stated, I doubt that this will turn out to be a huge issue that is detrimental to Apple in the long run. However, I do find it a bit disconcerting, if there's any truth behind these accusations. Apple is a much more closed and rigid system, in a sense--software development, design options are all much more limited and controlled by Apple. The benefit of this is well-designed and reliable products, even if with less flexibility than PCs or Androids. If Apple is at all contemplating price fixing or any other manipulative scheme, it's much more worrisome, precisely because of this "centrally-controlled" quality.
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