Apple Now Controls 20 Percent Of U.S. E-Book Market

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During Apple’s trial against the U.S. Department of Justice it was revealed that Apple now controls about 20 percent of the U.S. ebook market, thanks the growth of Apple’s iBookstore.

The news came during director Keith Moerer’s testimony in court on Tuesday. Moerer was called as a government witness in the U.S. vs Apple case where Apple stand accused of working with publishers to fix the price of ebooks when the iBookstore launched in 2010.

Publishers Weekly reports that Moerer claims the iBookstore controlled about 20percent of the U.S. ebook market when it launched in 2020, and it’s back up to 20% now. Most analysts estimate that Apple only controls about 10percent of the market, with Amazon grabbing the lion’s share at 50 to 60 percent, and Barnes and Noble taking second with 25 percent:

“The government called the iBookstore ‘a failure,’ and charged that ‘Apple pricing was unfair to consumers,’ and that ‘Apple sold fewer books because of the higher price caps.’ Moerer challenged that characterization, ‘I disagree. Ebook sales grew 100 percent last year at the iBookstore and it had over 100 million customers.’ The government countered that ‘when you drop prices you sell more books,’ and Moerer said, ‘sometimes, yes.’”

Moerer also stated that Apple hasn’t enforced its most favored nation clause fr ebooks since last year. Apple’s SVP Eddy Cue is scheduled to testify at the trial on Thursday.

 

Source: Publishers Weekly
Via: PaidContent

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