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????路透社（Reuters）和彭博社（Bloomberg）報道援引兩位未具名消息人員提供的信息稱，蘋果公司（Apple）及另外一兩家大型出版商正準(zhǔn)備就違反反托拉斯法應(yīng)訴，時間最早可能會在周三。 ????五家出版商被指控串通蘋果公司操縱電子書價格。據(jù)報道其中三家公司已就此案與歐盟委員會（the European Commission）和美國司法部（the U.S. Department of Justice）達(dá)成和解。 ????這三家出版商分別是哥倫比亞廣播公司（CBS）旗下的西蒙舒斯特爾公司（Simon&Schuster）、法國傳媒集團(tuán)拉加德爾（Lagardère SCA）旗下的艾謝特圖書集團(tuán)（Hachette Book Group）以及新聞集團(tuán)（News Corp）旗下的哈珀科林斯出版集團(tuán)（HarperCollins）。據(jù)推測，這三家公司都盡力避免與政府陷入漫長的訴訟拉鋸戰(zhàn)，以免為此付出代價。 ????據(jù)報道，蘋果公司和另外兩家出版商，即麥克米蘭公司（McMillan）和皮爾松公司旗下的企鵝出版集團(tuán)（Pearson’s Penguin）已經(jīng)做好了應(yīng)戰(zhàn)準(zhǔn)備。 ????這幾家出版商希望，在當(dāng)前所謂的代理模式下保留自身的定價權(quán)利。亞馬遜公司（Amazon）采用批發(fā)價定價方案，以低于成本的價格銷售電子書，通常暢銷書只賣9.99美元，使得出版商以全價銷售印刷版圖書變得更加困難。 ????蘋果方面則試圖保留電子書商店iBookstore。 ????備受爭議的是，2010年史蒂夫?喬布斯曾經(jīng)就iPad電子書業(yè)務(wù)達(dá)成了一筆交易，他對傳記作家沃爾特?艾薩克森描述了當(dāng)年的內(nèi)情： ????“我們告訴出版商，‘我們將采取代理模式，由你們來定價，我們再將價格提高30%，當(dāng)然，消費者可能需要多支付一點錢，但不管怎么說這是你們想要的?！?/p> ????“出版商后來去找亞馬遜公司談，‘你們得簽一份代理協(xié)議，否則我們就不會為你們供應(yīng)書籍?！?/p> ????喬布斯還堅持讓出版商簽署所謂的最惠國待遇條款，條款規(guī)定，他們不得以更低價格向亞馬遜或者其他電子書零售競爭對手提供書籍。 |
????Reuters and Bloomberg have both reported -- citing a pair of unnamed sources -- that Apple (AAPL) and one or two major publishers are preparing to get sued for antitrust violations, perhaps as early as today. ????Three of the five publishers accused of colluding with Apple to fix the prices of e-books have reportedly accepted deals offered by the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice. ????The settlers -- CBS's (CBS) Simon & Schuster, Lagardère SCA's Hachette Book Group and News Corp.'s (NWS) HarperCollins -- are presumably trying to avoid the cost of engaging in a protracted legal war with the government. ????Apple and the two remaining publishers -- McMillan and Pearson's (PSO) Penguin -- are reportedly prepared to go the mat. ????The publishers are trying to preserve the right to set their own prices under the so-called agency model. Using a wholesale pricing scheme, Amazon (AMZN) had been selling their e-books below cost -- typically $9.99 for bestsellers -- making it harder for publishers to charge full price for printed books. ????Apple, for its part, is trying to save the iBookstore. ????At issue is the 2010 deal Steve Jobs made to get e-books on the iPad that he described to biographer Walter Isaacson as follows: ????"We told the publishers, 'We'll go to the agency model, where you set the price, and we get our 30%, and yes, the customer pays a little more, but that's what you want anyway. ????"They went to Amazon and said, 'You're going to sign an agency contract or we're not going to give you the books.' " ????Jobs also insisted that publishers sign a so-called most-favored nation clause that said they couldn't sell their books more cheaply to Amazon or any other e-book rival. |
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