Class action lawyers want Steve Jobs’ biographer to hand over his source material to help them prove that Apple and publishers fixed e-book prices. But a judge has agreed that the author can refuse under a law that protects journalists and their sources. Read more »
According to the New York Times, Apple has had discussions with Twitter about making a substantial investment in the real-time network. A closer relationship between the two — which has been rumored in the past — would make some sense for both companies. Read more at GigaOM »
Apple is doubling down on efforts to protect the term “app store” at a time when it feels increasingly threatened by Amazon’s push into the app and mobile market. Amazon’s Appstore for Android is much smaller than Apple’s App Store but it brings in good revenue. Read more at GigaOM »
Remember when Friendster was the hot social network, publishers doubted that ebooks would ever sell, and Netflix thought DVDs in red envelopes was the future? We do — that was that state of digital media when paidContent launched in 2002. Read more »
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo says the company wants to become more of a media player, and also wants to become a Facebook-style platform inside which developers build applications — but can the company find a balance between competing with third-party providers and working alongside them? Read more at GigaOM »
Those who purchase Fox movies like Prometheus on iTunes can now re-download their films on iCloud, thanks to a deal the studio carved with its pay TV partner, HBO, that relaxes digital restrictions of movies while they’re in the pay TV window. Read more »
Mark Penn, the spin king/pollster who worked with Bill Clinton during Monica-Gate and advised Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, is now taking on Microsoft where he will head up “special projects” and focus on the consumer sector, reporting to CEO Steve Ballmer. Read more at GigaOM »
Thirty states have bagged $52 million from publishers as part of a price fixing investigation involving Apple. More money is on the way. While state leaders say the money is for overcharged consumers, legal and antirust experts say the arrangement is unusual. Read more »
A British judge raised eyebrows last week when he ruled that Samsung’s tablets did not infringe Apple’s patents because they were not as “cool.” Now, the same judge has followed up with an unusual order. Read more at GigaOM »
The Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Apple and major book publishers “sounds plausible on its face, [but] could wipe out the publishing industry as we know it, making it much harder for young authors to get published,” New York senator Charles Schumer writes in a WSJ op-ed. Read more »
The Department of Justice was supposed to publish all of the letters it has received about the ebook pricing settlement by June 25. Its failure to do so violates the Tunney Act, attorney Bob Kohn tells the judge presiding over the case in a letter. Read more »
New court filings related to an alleged conspiracy between Apple and publishers over e-book prices show the matter may not be resolved until 2014. The filings underscore how the legal system moves at a much slower pace than the fast-evolving e-book market. Read more »
Conference organization TED already publishes ebooks. Now it’s selling them through a new app, Ted Books for iOS. Readers can also buy subscriptions. Read more »
Good way for a book to become a NYT bestseller: Have Jeff Bezos write about it on Amazon’s homepage. That’s what happened to Jessica Park, whose self-pubbed “Flat-Out Love” got a Bezos shoutout on June 18. This week, it hits the NYT ebook list at #25. Read more »
The arrival of the iPhone five years ago changed many things, but one of the most fundamental was the way that news and journalism are delivered and consumed — and at the same time, it also revolutionized the way that news content is created. Read more at GigaOM »
Google now activates one million Android devices per day and has 400 million devices in the wild, but its media store efforts have lagged. Google Play now has more digital content types, so here’s a look at how it compares to iTunes and Amazon’s digital store. Read more at GigaOM »
News-aggregation services Flipboard and Pulse have both signed deals this week to distribute content from a mainstream outlet — one the New York Times and the other the Wall Street Journal — but they are taking very different approaches when it comes to monetizing those relationships. Read more at GigaOM »
The Department of Justice’s trial against Apple, Penguin and Macmillan, who are accused of colluding to fix prices on e-books, will take place in a little under a year, on June 3, 2013, presiding U.S. District Judge Denise Cote ruled Friday. Read more »
A Canadian man is taking Apple to court over its problem-plagued Time Capsule, saying the failure of the back-up storage device caused him to lose precious memories. He is demanding $25,000 from Apple as compensation. Read more at GigaOM »
This weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: A “new adult” romance for the college crowd. Read more »
The distinctive three-dimensional globe is giving way to a new three-edition iPad app strategy for ABC News. The new version relies not on ideas about what iPad users might want — as was the case when it first launched in July 2010 — but on nearly two years of usage. Read more »
Google announced a major deal in France that clears the way for the sale of millions of e-books that have been caught in legal limbo until now. The deal could spur digital publishing in Europe and shape control of the continent’s fledgling e-book market. Read more »
The campaign for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will spend big dollars this summer to deliver ads to voters’ iPhones and iPads, a move that could pep up sluggish demand for mobile ads. Read more at GigaOM »
This week, the book industry gathered at the ugly, cavernous Javits Center in Manhattan for the largest book trade event in the United States. (“I feel like I’m in Costco,” actress-author Molly Ringwald told the AP.) Here are five digital lessons from the week. Read more »
While we in tech land tried to read the tea leaves of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s recent cryptic comments on the future of Apple TV, the media world saw the uncertainty around his statements as, “causing a boatload of angst and anticipation,” according to Variety. Read more at GigaOM »
Netflix’s fast-growing subscription VOD business now consumes 44 percent the online movie market compared to just 32.3 percent for Apple’s iTunes, according to research company IHS Screen Digest. This, of course, is a bad sign for studios pushing for higher-margin digital movie sales. Read more »
Penguin and Macmillan, the two publishers fighting the Department of Justice’s e-book price fixing lawsuit in court, have both filed responses to the DOJ suit. Macmillan’s response is shorter and more fiery; Penguin’s is longer, with more colorful details and explainers. Read more »
In a new pushback over its role in an ongoing e-book controversy, Apple said that Steve Jobs’ widely reported quotes on Amazon and book publishers “will speak for themselves.” The company also denied again that it conspired to fix e-book prices. Read more »
In the latest court filing in the ongoing Justice Department e-books price-fixing suit, Apple says it did not conspire to fix the prices of digital books to hurt competitors and its business strategy around pricing was “perfectly proper,” according to a Reuters report. Read more at GigaOM »
FT.com Managing Director Rob Grimshaw made no secret of his distaste for Apple’s in-app subscription terms at padContent 2012. iOS apps don’t work for publishers, he told the audience, and the Financial Times’ decision to leave the iTunes store was a success. Read more »
In a strongly worded opinion, US District Judge Denise Cote rejected requests by Apple and book publishers to throw out a class action suit that accuses them of price-fixing. Read more »
New York, the District of Columbia and fifteen other states have joined the e-book pricing class action suit against Apple, Macmillan and Penguin, for a total of 31. The amended complaint reveals details that were previously redacted, including an e-mail from Steve Jobs. Read more »
Amazon will make all seven Harry Potter e-books available in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. “It’s a commercial deal that makes sense even with a level of cannibalization of sales,” Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne tells paidContent, “but I believe it will actually drive greater sales.” Read more »
Publishers saw the iPad as a chance to turn back the clock and convince consumers to pay for content in a new form. But that dream has collided with reality, and now some content producers — including MIT’s Technology Review — say the standalone content app is dead. Read more at GigaOM »
This weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling better in digital than in print. This week: Marriage to a billionaire. Read more »
More than a year after Judge Denny Chin blew up an epic settlement agreement, Google and the Authors Guild are back in court today. Read more »
Publishers Hachette and Harper Collins slipped further away from the class action lawyer who wants them to pay over an alleged e-book price-fixing conspiracy. Read more »
Microsoft and Barnes & Noble are teaming up to take on Amazon and Apple. The $300 million investment in the Nook subsidiary of Barnes & Noble gives Microsoft about 17.6% ownership of this business unit and values it at about about $1.7 billion, more than Barnes & Noble itself. Read more at GigaOM »
A Colorado man says Apple’s smart cover for the new iPad and the iPad 2 violate his 2005 patent for a “Portable Computer Case.” Read more »
This new weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling better in digital than in print. This week: Two castaways find romance on a desert island…and other bestsellers. Read more »
