蘋(píng)果公司誓與美國(guó)司法部對(duì)簿公堂
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????路透社（Reuters）和彭博社（Bloomberg）報(bào)道援引兩位未具名消息人員提供的信息稱,，蘋(píng)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(shí)間最早可能會(huì)在周三。 ????五家出版商被指控串通蘋(píng)果公司操縱電子書(shū)價(jià)格,。據(jù)報(bào)道其中三家公司已就此案與歐盟委員會(huì)（the European Commission）和美國(guó)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(guó)傳媒集團(tuán)拉加德?tīng)枺↙agardère SCA）旗下的艾謝特圖書(shū)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(cè),，這三家公司都盡力避免與政府陷入漫長(zhǎng)的訴訟拉鋸戰(zhàn)，以免為此付出代價(jià),。 ????據(jù)報(bào)道,，蘋(píng)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(jià)權(quán)利。亞馬遜公司（Amazon）采用批發(fā)價(jià)定價(jià)方案,，以低于成本的價(jià)格銷(xiāo)售電子書(shū),，通常暢銷(xiāo)書(shū)只賣(mài)9.99美元，使得出版商以全價(jià)銷(xiāo)售印刷版圖書(shū)變得更加困難,。 ????蘋(píng)果方面則試圖保留電子書(shū)商店iBookstore,。 ????備受爭(zhēng)議的是，2010年史蒂夫?喬布斯曾經(jīng)就iPad電子書(shū)業(yè)務(wù)達(dá)成了一筆交易,，他對(duì)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(lái)定價(jià),，我們?cè)賹r(jià)格提高30%,，當(dāng)然，消費(fèi)者可能需要多支付一點(diǎn)錢(qián),，但不管怎么說(shuō)這是你們想要的,。’” ????“出版商后來(lái)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(huì)為你們供應(yīng)書(shū)籍?！?/p> ????喬布斯還堅(jiān)持讓出版商簽署所謂的最惠國(guó)待遇條款,，條款規(guī)定，他們不得以更低價(jià)格向亞馬遜或者其他電子書(shū)零售競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手提供書(shū)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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