DOJ Sues Apple and Major Publishers, How Publishers are Handling Timeline, Amazon Announces In-App Purchasing, Garter Releases Tablet Market Statistics, Facebook Acquires Instagram
Welcome to TFP’s weekly roundup of interesting and noteworthy stories from the publishing world. This week we’re discussing the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Apple and five major publishers, how publishers are handling the switch to Facebook’s Timeline, and more.
- In major publishing news this week, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five of the largest U.S. publishers. The suit alleges that the companies conspired to raise e-book prices. While the publishers and Apple have denied any wrongdoing, three of the publishers agreed to a settlement with the DOJ. Whatever the end result of the suit, there’s a rising concern within the industry that Amazon could end up with enormous sway over the e-book industry.
- Social media has become an increasingly important part of the content distribution model for publishers, and Facebook is undoubtedly part of this strategy; this week on the TFP blog, we looked at how major publishers are handling the switch to Timeline and how they’re leveraging the new format.
- Amazon announced that its in-app purchasing API has officially moved from beta to full developer release. The API supports the in-app purchasing functionality on Kindle Fire and Android devices.
- Gartner released a report predicting 665 million media tablets in use by 2016. The report also suggests that the iPad shows no signs of relinquishing its position as the tablet of choice.
- Facebook made one of its largest acquisitions to date with its $1 billion purchase of photo-sharing app Instagram. Will this move affect publishers’ digital strategies? Not much, but there is still insight to be gained about the influence of mobile, social media and apps on digital publishing.
This Week in Publishing appears every Friday on the TFP blog. Every week we compile interesting and noteworthy stories from the publishing world and put together a wrap-up to help our readers stay up-to-date. Think we missed something great? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Posted by: tfpadmin