Apple may settle ebook price-fixing allegations, but only across the pond; Eddy Cue has some tough love for news publishers; and a boardwalk classic finds a new home. Step right up and see the amazing, death-defying, one-of-a-kind remainders for Monday, April 23, 2012.
Apple offers to settle ebook price fixing row in Europe but will fight case in the US (The Telegraph)
Despite fighting tooth and nail against the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit on ebook price fixing, Apple appears to be acquiescing to the European Union’s settlement requests, according to EU competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia. No word yet on what the settlement terms might include, but if Tim Cook is as savvy as I think he is, he’ll ask for Liechtenstein.
Justice Department Bites Apple (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)
As long as we’re talking the DOJ suit, here’s a choice quote from Eddy Cue: “I don’t think you understand. We can’t treat newspapers or magazines any differently than we treat FarmVille.” Cue voiced the sentiment last year when the Journal’s L. Gordon Crovitz came as an envoy from news publishers who were looking for an exception to Apple’s flat 30-percent cut of iTunes revenues. Could have gone worse: “Absolutely, we’ll treat you differently. How about we take 70 percent and you take 30 percent?”
Johnson v. Apple Inc. Class Action Settlement Website (Johnson iTunes Settlement)
If you purchased an iTunes gift card back before Apple implemented tiered pricing, you may be eligible to get an iTunes gift card worth $3.25 as part of a legal settlement. Good luck trying to spend all of that money on a store where every price ends in a nine.
DS MediaLabs Fully Acquires iOS Hit “Ramp Champ” from Iconfactory (DS MediaLabs)
I’d argue that Ramp Champ is as close to a classic as exists on iOS, so I’m glad to hear it’s back. DS MediaLabs, who co-created the skee-ball game with The Iconfactory, has now taken the reins on development, and says it plans to update the game and add new features, such as Retina display support and new ramps. Can I suggest a dock-connector accessory that prints actual tickets?
Product News:
Default Folder X 4.4.11 – St. Clair Software has updated its venerable file management and shortcut utility to version 4.4.11, fixing a problem where the program wouldn’t work in sandboxed applications in the developer preview of Mountain Lion, working around a problem in OS X’s code-signing utility, and adding support for CodeKit. Free update for owners of version 4 or those who purchased version 3 on or after June 1, 2007; $15 upgrade fee for previous version. $35 for a new license.