| Mixed Signals from Judge Overseeing Apple Antitrust Remedies |  By Paul Thurrott | The judge overseeing Apple's ebook price-fixing case said this week that she will not allow the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to broadly oversee the electronics giant's business practices but will instead limit the remedy to ebooks. However, she also slapped down Apple for being unrepentant and okayed the appointment of an external antitrust monitor who will ensure that the firm halts its anticompetitive practices.
Apple was found guilty last month of coercing the world's five biggest book publishers to collude together to dramatically raise their prices on ebooks in order to harm Amazon and ease its own entry into the market with iBooks. Since then, the DOJ has pressed to establish broad oversight over Apple's entire product line, and not just ebooks, to rein in its anticompetitive business practices. But US District Court Judge Denise Cote on Tuesday rejected this plan. Related: "EU Wraps Up Apple eBook Antitrust Case" | | ADVERTISEMENT | INETA: THE NEXT STEP IN USER GROUP EVOLUTION
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| | | "I want this injunction to rest as lightly as possible on the way Apple runs its business," Judge Cote said, dismissing the DOJ request. She also struck down a request that would require Apple to let other ebook sellers, like Amazon, provide links to their own ebook stores from within apps that run on Apple devices such as the iPad. This step, she said, was "unnecessary."
The DOJ originally hoped to oversee Apple's business for 10 years, but after sharp complaints from Apple it reduced the oversight period to 5 years with the possibility of multiple one-year extensions. At Judge Cote's request, the DOJ has also asked that Apple stagger its dealings with book publishers going forward to ensure that there is no more collusion between the firms. Apple, which says it will appeal the guilty verdict, has rigorously attacked all of the remedies proposed so far by the DOJ. But Judge Cote told Apple lawyers Tuesday that the firm had clearly not learned anything from its antitrust conviction and that she will "reluctantly" allow the DOJ to appoint an external antitrust monitor to keep the company in line going forward. This monitor will force everyone in the affected business unit at Apple, including senior executives like Eddy Cue, to complete antitrust training classes. "I am hopeful that Apple will bring its culture of excellence and exceptionalism to this task," Judge Cote said. "I trust it will make a sincere commitment to reform its culture" (a statement that makes it unclear whether Apple's culture is excellent or in need of reform). Judge Cote has asked both the DOJ and Apple to work together on a proposed set of reforms that she can issue as a ruling next week. But given how far apart the two are on these reforms, it's unclear how Judge Cote can meet this schedule. Related: "Apple Found Guilty of Antitrust Abuse in eBook Collusion Trial" | | Comment on this article... | | Vote Now in the 2013 Community Choice Awards! | By Jason Bovberg
| Final voting for our 2013 Windows IT Pro, SQL Server Pro, and Dev Pro Community Choice award program is underway! These awards offer a unique way for the community to determine their favorite vendors and products on the market. Both vendors and users have the opportunity to nominate tools, and then the community takes part in the popular Final Voting period. You can be sure that the winners of our Community Choice awards represent the cream of the crop in the various markets we cover.
These are competitive and multifaceted fields, in which many products show uncommon breadths of functionality and originality. Often, it can be a challenge to determine among these tools which ones are of true value. We hope to help you with that decision-making. By the time voting comes to a close, you will have determined Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners in each category, and these winners will unquestionably be worthy of serious consideration if you're in the market for a new tool. Final Voting begins August 16 and proceeds through September 20. Winners will be announced in the December issues of Windows IT Pro, SQL Server Pro, and Dev Pro. Visit our Awards Central page for more information about this contest. Spread the word, and get voting! |
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| Latest Blog Posts | Microsoft Provides Guidance for Developers Targeting Windows 8.1
When Microsoft revealed this week that it would not provide the RTM version of Windows 8/RT to developers or other non-OEMs ahead of its late October general availability, it triggered a predictable (and avoidable) controversy. We can debate the merits of this approach elsewhere, but for now, the firm has provided some guidance for developers who are wondering about the next step.
Microsoft Updates SkyDrive Pro with 25GB of Storage, Better Sharing, and More
Microsoft today announced a major update to the SkyDrive Pro service that ships as part of the business versions of Office 365: Users will each get a lot more storage, the ability to buy more storage, and other changes, like improved sharing functionality.
Nokia Lumia 925 Is Heading to AT&T
Nokia announced today that its Lumia 925 handset is heading to AT&T Mobile in a new exclusive color. The move follows the release of the device on T-Mobile in July and opens up this elegant Windows Phone 8 handset to a much bigger audience.
Google Chromecast First Impressions and Photos
Google's third stab at the living room is small, cute and inexpensive. But my initial experiences with this device are underwhelming so I'll be testing it over the next week or so to determine whether it lives up to the hype. In the meantime, here's a quick peek at the device and some initial thoughts.
Assessing the Ballmer Years
With Steve Ballmer abruptly and unexpectedly announcing that he will leave his CEO position at Microsoft within the next 12 months, analysts closeted and otherwise are coming out of the woodwork to try and explain this turn of events, and Ballmer's tenure leading the firm. But looking at Ballmer's 14-year reign, it's not hard to draw a single, obvious conclusion.
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| Resources | Managing A Hybrid Virtualization Environment
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Join us Wednesday, August 28th, 2013 @ 12:00pm ET. Datacenter expert, Mel Beckman, explains the speeds and feeds of modern HPC and what you need to create or consume HPCaaS offerings. You'll also hear about the experiences of actual HPCaaS implementations and the most common issues overlooked when creating an HPC cloud service. | | MORE EVENTS | |
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