As part of the ongoing Apple e-book price fixing investigation by the Department of Justice, a new email sent from Steve Jobs to James Murdoch has come to light.
Murdoch, ultimately in control of what happens at Harper Collins, was approached by Steve Jobs to undermine Amazon’s $9.99 e-book pricing model, reports All Things D. Jobs explains in the email that he thinks Haper Collins should “throw in with Apple and see if we can all make a go of this to create a real mainstream e-books market at $12.99 and $14.99.”
That said, the rest of the email softens the overall message: those prices are really suggested as caps, and Jobs admits that the idea might not work out. But it is clear that the plan was to organize a market which charged more than Amazon. It will, of course, be up for the courts to decide just how signifacent such evidence is. The full filing, from which this email is taken, can be found below. [All Things D]
