Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
So, what price did they fix it at? My understanding is that only conspiracy was that they all wanted agency pricing, not that they all wanted one particular price point.
|
You misremember, sir.
At launch all agency ebooks did in fact share exactly two price points: $12.99 and $14.99. Apple insisted on it in the documents released in the court opinion. The publishers were reluctant because they wanted *everything* at $14.99 or higher.
More, price fixing conspiracies *often* agree to different prices for different conspirators (the european soap cartel cited above allowed each conspirator a band of prices and they took turns running promotions). The point is to prevent price competition among cartel members by coordinating their pricing, not merely (and crudely) sticking to one fixed price across the board. Price fuxing is about maintaining price floors rather than literal price fixing.
Here's a quickie history of cartels and illegal price fixing conspiracies from Hammurabi to the present:
http://bizshifts-trends.com/2014/04/...ness-strategy/