The writing was on the wall from the start. Apple went to court to defend itself against e-book price fixing claims after its five co-conspirators in the case had all previously settled with the government. So, when U.S. District Judge Denise Cote ruled against Apple, it didn't come as big surprise to anyone outside of the reality distortion field that surrounds Cupertino, CA. But now, after all the legal wrangling, to the real question: Will any of this lead to a change in the way e-books are priced in the market?
A Bloomberg Businessweek article points out that since the publishers had previously agreed to change their pricing practices, Apple would be involved in a conspiracy of one if it did not. Since consumers have been quite willing to buy e-books from Apple at a discount to what they would typically pay for paper versions, they are not likely to begin abandoning the company in droves with Judge Cote's ruling.
For its part, Apple continues to deny the charges brought against it.
"Apple did not conspire to fix e-book pricing and we will continue to fight against these false accusations," Tom Neumayr, a spokesperson for Apple, said in a statement to Bloomberg News. "When we introduced the iBookstore in 2010, we gave customers more choice, injecting much needed innovation and competition into the market, breaking Amazon's monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. We've done nothing wrong and we will appeal the judge's decision."
The big winner in this case (if there is one) appears to Amazon.com, although it's hard to see how it would benefit from a market share perspective, as an example, if Apple suddenly begins lowering prices on e-book titles. In her ruling, Judge Cote wrote that Apple's agreements with publishers drove e-book prices up as much as 50 percent in some cases.
A piece on Forbes.com argues Apple needed to bring its own suit against Amazon.com back in 2010 instead of striking a deal with the publishers. Amazon, according to the article, was engaged "in predatory pricing by selling below cost and had nearly 100 percent of the e-book market at the time." Today, Amazon's share is closer to 50 percent of the market.