Barnes & Noble Inc.

A judge has preliminarily approved the states’ $69 million ebook pricing settlement with publishers, but consumers won’t receive any payments until after a hearing is held in February 2013. Payments would range between $0.25 and $1.32 per ebook.
states, u.s. states, map, united statesphoto: Shutterstock   

Federal district judge Denise Cote has preliminarily approved (PDF) the states’ $69 million ebook pricing settlement with Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster.

The Department of Justice’s ebook pricing settlement was approved last Thursday, and HarperCollins, one of the three settling publishers, has already entered into new contracts with ebook retailers – including Apple. The retailers can now set their own prices on HarperCollins titles. So what kinds of changes are we seeing? A roundup of select titles (the prices are correct as of Tuesday morning, but are subject to change).

Updated In a decision that could start an e-book price war in the publishing industry, a federal judge on Thursday approved a settlement between the Justice Department and three major publishers in a civil antitrust case that accused the companies of collusion in the pricing of digital books.

The long-expected approval soundly rejected criticisms of the deal that had accumulated throughout the summer from hundreds of parties, including Barnes & Noble, the Authors Guild and the American Booksellers Association.

 SAN FRANCISCO: Amazon.com Inc is expected to launch a new tablet on Thursday, the latest salvo in a battle for control of mobile access to the Internet.

Amazon is expected to announce at least one new version of its 7-inch Kindle Fire at a press conference near Los Angeles. A larger tablet may also be unveiled, along with an update of the company's popular Kindle e-reader.

Watchmen it ain't, but the brief condenses complex arguments admirably. The anti-trust case against Apple, Macmillan and Penguin, all accused of conspiring to fix ebook prices, thunders on, but one part of it is shortly to come to a close. Three of the originally accused publishers – HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster – agreed to settle with the Department of Justice in April this year, and that settlement is finally coming through.

Apple and four publishers are reportedly trying to come up with an agreement that would make both Amazon and European regulators happy, as a way to settle an e-book price-fixing investigation. According to a source speaking to Reuters, Apple and the publishers are proposing a plan under which other e-book retailers—namely, Amazon—could sell e-books at a discount, rather than at the price set by publishers. The European Commission has not yet accepted the offer, according to Reuters, but is informally "market testing the commitments"…

Amazon’s New York-based imprint has signed a deal with Ingram to distribute its ebooks to other retailers, paidContent has learned. The deal will make the ebooks available to Amazon competitors like Barnes & Noble, Apple and Kobo.
Larry Kirshbaum    

Amazon’s New York-based book publishing imprint, which is headed by publishing industry vet Larry Kirshbaum, has signed a deal with Ingram to distribute its ebooks to other retailers, paidContent has learned. Amazon and Ingram confirmed the news.

Launching the exclusive e-book store of the biggest-selling book series of all time was no mean feat.

J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore, the exclusive retailer of the Harry Potter e-books and digital audiobooks, needed an e-commerce platform that could stand up to the challenge.

After reviewing the options, Pottermore chose Intershop’s Enfinity E-Commerce platform to power the launch of its exclusive Pottermore Shop.

 Britain's biggest department store will be the first retailer outside the United States to sell the bookstore chain's e-reader, selling the devices at each of its 37 stores.

The Nook has emerged as the main rival to Amazon’s Kindle range in the United States. The cheapest model costs $99, or around £63.

In its response to recent filings from Apple, publishers and booksellers on its proposed ebook settlement with three publishers, the Department of Justice addresses few specific complaints (PDF; full filing embedded below). Rather, citing the “unmistakable consumer harm that has resulted from the conspiracy in this case,” the DOJ calls on Judge Denise Cote to approve the settlement without a hearing.

Last week, attorney Bob Kohn and the Authors Guild sought permission to act as “friends of the court” in the proposed settlement and filed amicus briefs.