It gives a terrific overview of the background.
Quote:
Publishers conveyed to Apple their abhorrence of Amazon’s pricing, and Apple assured the Publishers it was willing to work with them to raise those prices, suggesting prices such as $12.99 and $14.99. Over the course of their negotiations in December 2009 and January 2010, Apple and the Publisher Defendants educated one another about their other priorities. Apple strongly hoped to announce its new iBookstore when it launched the iPad on January 27, 2010, but would only do so if it had agreements in place with a core group of Publishers by that date, could assure itself it would make a profit in the iBookstore, and could offer e-book titles simultaneously with their hardcover releases. For their part, if the Publisher Defendants were going to take control of e-book pricing and move the price point above $9.99, they needed to act collectively; any other course would leave an individual Publisher vulnerable to retaliation from Amazon.
Apple and the Publisher Defendants shared one overarching interest--that there be no price competition at the retail level.
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And of course, Apple was not just watching on the sidelines, hoping the publishers would come to an agreement:
Quote:
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As Apple made clear to the Publishers, “There is no one outside of us that can do this for you. If we miss this opportunity, it will likely never come again.”
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It goes over, step by step, how the 5 competitors colluded with each other and Apple to raise prices, for no reason other than that they believed people should be paying more than $10 for ebooks.