Apple has settled a possible antitrust lawsuit to the satisfaction of European Commission regulators and German Federal Cartel Office, after scrapping an exclusivity deal with the Amazon-owned Audible.
The investigation dates back to November 2015, following complaints from the German Publishers and Booksellers Association.
Apple’s just gotten to the end of its long and convoluted eBooks antitrust case, and now Germany’s Federal Cartel Office is reportedly investigating the company’s agreement with Amazon for purchasing audiobooks.
Apple and Amazon are said to have a long-term agreement in place for purchasing audio books from Amazon’s Audible company to distribute via the iTunes store. The terms of the deal haven’t been made clear.
Audible. An amazing service, with the worst app ever. Until now, that is. Not only has Amazon (Audible’s owner) finally made a version for the iPad, it has also tweaked the iPhone version extensively.
Yesterday, Amazon’s iOS Kindle app was updated to add multicolor highlights, “Book End Actions” (rate, review, share, see recommendations) and to fix the brightness control, which now stays set across app switching or sleep.
At first I thought “Meh, iBooks has had most of that since forever.” And then I thought “Wait, are there any differences left between these two apps?”
The answer is — of course — yes. But it’s more complicated than that…
Rather than complying with Apple’s App Store terms and throwing the Cupertino company 30% of every sale it makes, Audible has launched an iPhone-friendly web app that allows users to add a bookmark to their home screen for quick and easy purchasing.
Audible.com, the provider of digital audiobooks and more, now have an application available for your iPhone & iPod Touch. It’s a free download and claims to deliver the “the most comprehensive audiobook experience ever.”
If you’re not already an Audible member, you can create a new account for free within the app, and as a bonus you will receive a free excerpt from The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World. At present, only Audible.com accounts will work, however the description states support for Audible.co.uk, .de and .fr accounts is coming soon.
Noteable features include the ability to transfer your books wirelessly between your computer and your device over Wi-Fi; multitasking for background audio playback and background downloading for compatible devices with iOS 4; and the opportunity to connect to Facebook and Twitter to let your friends know what you’re listening to.
Another nifty feature is the ability to check out your listening stats and collect “badges” for your listening habits.
For more information and to download the Audible app, check out the App Store here.
