Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Abe
Ignorance of the law is no excuse, and Apple should realize that there are higher laws and powers in the universe. Apple's actions smack of hubris, influenced by Steve Jobs and his remarkable lucky streak. The demigod got a smackdown.
|
I'm sure Apple has as much hubris as the next company, and more than most...sure. However, I see nothing wrong with them saying "look, we are interested in selling ebooks, but we are not interested in selling them as loss leaders". Amazon had made it so that nobody could make money selling ebooks. That's the effect of predatory pricing.
If someone is going into the book selling business...you are going to be talking to the top 6 publishers. That is not collusion in my book. Apple met with and negotiated separately with each company. They ALL had the same problem in Amazon. It did not take collusion to realize this.
Agency pricing is not illegal. MFN clauses are not illegal. With Agency pricing and the MFN -- and with Apple's power as a competitor -- it is a sure thing that the publishers would finally have the power to negotiate with Amazon. That's not collusion either.
What is collusion is the CEO's talking to each other and strategizing...which is what THEY did, not Apple.
Clearly, the judge and I disagree.
The judge's opinion is that the Apple executives were lying. She didn't catch them in a lie. No evidence was presented that showed the executives lying. It's just her opinion that they weren't believable. The judge and I disagree.
The publishers have no power to price their books beyond what people are willing to pay. There is a lot of competition in the book market. All the folks on this board who boycotting "the Agency 5" showed the truth behind the notion that no one has been coerced into paying more an ebook.
On the other hand -- Amazon selling the most popular ebooks below cost did indeed drive competition out of the market.
Ergo, the government chose the wrong target.