Apple Gets Smacked With External Ebooks Monitor

From DailyTech: Apple, Inc. (AAPL) recently had the distinction of joining the ranks of convicted antitrust abusers such as Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), AT&T Inc. (T), and Intel Corp. (INTC). The company -- which has long cast itself as cool, rebellious hipster "cred" -- looked a lot more like "PC Guy" than the stereotypical "Mac Guy" in court earlier this year.

Things looked bad for Apple from the start -- all of its publisher partners effectively admitted guilt and agreed to antitrust restrictions. Apple alone denied the charges, but it struggled to defend itself against U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors claims that it cost customers "millions of dollars" by entering into secret deals with eBook publishers and offering to reward them for blacklisting Apple's competitor Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN). While none of the publishers blacklisted Amazon, the threat reportedly helped the publisher to force Amazon to adopt (higher) prices similar to Apple's.

Internet software and services chief, Eddy Cue, who masterminded the e-book deals, basically admitted that his company was responsible for driving up e-book prices from the former de facto rate of $10 to $15. Asked if Apple (or Amazon) customers complained about the higher prices, he commented, "They may or may not have, I can't recall."

Not surprisingly, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found Apple guilty. Now that same judge has delivered a final ruling about what Apple must do to avoid fines and other penalties of noncompliance. Reuters and The Verge had reporters in the courtroom detailing the ruling.

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