J'ai longtemps été un inconditionnel d'Apple, en fait, j'utilise des Mac depuis 1984 et n'ai jamais eu d'autre ordinateur, mais depuis quelques temps, la firme à la pomme me parait filer un très mauvais coton et emprunter de plus en plus les mauvaises manières de Microsoft. En voici un nouvel exemple : il s'agit du prix des livres électroniques. Ce sont deux extraits du blog d'un auteur qui va devoir augmenter le prix de ses livres pour satisfaire les exigences d'Apple :

"I was informed by my publisher this week that they would have to raise my e-book prices because they planned to sell them through the Apple iBooks store. How could this happen? A lot of my individual stories sell in the $1 to $3 range, which is well within the impulse purchase amount for many people. In this price range a 50-cent price difference may well be the difference between a purchase and a pass. Meanwhile, Apple is touting its new 'agency model,' whereby the publishers set the prices. However, it seems that Apple requires books sold in its iBook store have prices ending in .99 — nothing else."

"Furthermore, Apple requires that if you sell books through them that you absolutely cannot sell them for less through anyone else. To my understanding Amazon also requires this, so Apple and Amazon prices should be identical in the future, but Amazon doesn't force prices to end in .99. What this means is that an e-book that the author was quite happy to sell for $2.29 or $2.49 is now going to cost $2.99 from everybody. While that sounds like only a few extra cents, it adds up over time and can lead to resentment against authors for charging higher prices, even though they have little real control over pricing. I, for one, do not understand why Apple computers only understand numbers ending in .99, or just how Apple is making it better for the consumer this way." 

 Autrement dit : ce sera le prix unique du livre aux conditions d'Apple, si cela ne s'appelle pas abuser de sa position de monopole…