Key witness Eddy Cue to testify in Apple e-book trial

Apple’s head of iTunes, Eddy Cue, will testify Thursday as the central witness in the Justice Department’s lawsuit against the tech giant for allegedly conspiring to raise e-book prices.

According to prosecutors, Cue was the chief liaison between Apple — under late founder Steve Jobs — and five publishers, all trying to create a new model for e-book sales that would raise prices above Amazon’s average $9.99 offerings.

Prosecutors said Cue coordinated a joint plan for the publishers to move away from Amazon’s wholesale e-books model.