WASHINGTON — Apple Inc. said Friday that the government’s accusation that it conspired with major book publishers to raise the price of e-books is untrue.
Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said that instead, Apple fostered innovation and competition by introducing its iBookstore in 2010.
Apple’s entry into the e-book marketplace has broken “Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry,” Neumayr said.
Lawsuits filed this week by the Justice Department and 15 states, including Colorado, said Apple and the publishers cost consumers more than $100 million in the past two years by adding $2 or $3, sometimes as much as $5, to the price of each e-book.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder said executives at the highest levels of the companies conspired to eliminate competition among e-book sellers. Justice’s antitrust chief, Sharis Pozen, said the executives were desperate to get — the marketer of Kindle e-book readers — to raise the $9.99 price point it had set for the most popular e-book titles. The Associated Press
