E-book: Amazon breath, Apple broke its agreements with four publishers
Apple was accused of having signed agreements with four publishers (Hachette Livre, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck). The Cupertino company would have heard on prices creating a skewed tariff policy. Several weeks ago, November 7th 2012, the European Union already gave reason for Amazon and Apple put into question. Today, it puts an end to the investigation because an agreement has been found. Thus, Apple and four publishing houses will replace the normal contractual conditions. This will have an impact on the market for e-books as competitors like Amazon will have the opportunity to offer a more flexible tariff range.
Attention to sanction
The outcome of this case has been very well received by the Commissioner for Competition, Joaquin Almunia, "these commitments will restore normal conditions of competition in the market recently and rapidly changing, for the benefit of customers and readers electronic books. "Retailers like Amazon are pleased by this decision. This great victory allows them to perform a discount selling price of e-books, and they have already begun to do.
The European Union also wanted to clarify a point. She wishes to inform companies that do not respect the commitments that the Commission would be able to impose a financial penalty that could reach 10% of global annual turnover. This practice would be implemented without "having to prove any violation of the rules on cartels and abuses of dominant position."
