APPLE look like becoming the new sponsor of the UK's Orange prize for fiction - Orange after merging with T-Mobile's decided to drop its sponsorship of the prize.

The Sunday Telegraph newspaper  reported  that "Apple has had talks with the award organisers" and that also "a number of companies, including Kobo, the ebook producer, had also indicated their interest but that discussions with Apple were the most advanced."

A US based survey shows that Apples iPad is losing market share, and that the reason for this is the wealth of cheaper tablets on the sale including Amazon's Fire device.

Half of all tablet owners in the United States own Apple’s tablet, a drop from 72% this time last year, according to a new report by Frank N. Magid Associates, a marketing research firm in New York. What’s behind the dramatic drop? The proliferation of cheaper tablets, including the $199 Kindle Fire, says Tom Godfrey, the firm’s director of mobile strategy who interviewed 4,700 people for the survey. He estimates that the Fire, launched last year, already accounts for 22% of the tablet market.

Both Apple and Amazon declined to comment on the findings of the survey.

Apple said Amazon is its competitor, so the name cannot be mentioned in potential iBooks submissions

Apple recently refused to carry an ebook in its popular iBooks store because it mentioned a huge ebooks competitor -- Amazon. 

"This is not professional behavior from a professional market," said Lisle. "And cold moment of truth here -- you cannot write a writing course that includes information on publishing and self-publishing and NOT mention Amazon. It's the place where your writers are going to make about 90 percent of their money." Holly Lisle 

Lisle submitted her book to Apple's iBooks store, and received a rejection letter stating that she wasn't allowed to have live links to Amazon inside. She then removed the links and resubmitted the book, only to receive yet another rejection letter. The reason? She wasn't allowed to mention Amazon at all in the book because it is an Apple competitor.  

The price fixing case against Apple and several major publishers has escalated and now there are 32 states involved in suing the company. It's out of control with everyone and their uncle lining up to take money from publishing when the industry can ill afford it. And that's only the tip of the iceberg and several European countries including the UK are also bringing cases against Apple and the publishers involved in the row. And now Australia are getting in on the act -  The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has urged local retailers with concerns about price-fixing in the electronic book publishing market to voice their concerns, as it considers its options following a US Justice Department lawsuit against Apple and five of the world’s largest book publishers. The book publishing world was rocked yesterday when the Department of Justice filed suit against Apple and publishers Penguin Group, Macmillan, Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, alleging they conspired to drive up the price of e-books.

Internet eBook sensation Fifty Shades of Gray is being banned from libraries across the US. Given that the book is a bestseller and available in most stores this seems a stupid move and reeks of censorship. Several UK libraries have also banned the book - an absolutely idiotic move given that libraries across the country are threatened with closure. There is obviously a huge demand for the book and  surely drawing people into the library should be the chief concern.

US Publishing giant, Houghton Mifflin filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on this last Monday. The filing came as state and local governments cut their budgets, reducing demand for textbooks for students from kindergarten to 12th grade, Houghton Mifflin’s main business. The company is also known for publishing authors from Mark Twain to J.R.R. Tolkien.

If Apple didn't have enough on their plate with the US  Department of Justice going for their collective jugular regarding eBook price fixing, further woes will be added after Canada has also decided to go after Apple over eBook price fixing.  Montreal's The Gazette reports that Canada is following the United States and going after Apple and the five book publishers for ebook price fixing.According to The Gazette, the lawsuit was filed in Quebec Superior Court by lawyer Normand Painchaud last February. Like those filed here in the States, his class-action suit claims that Apple colluded with the book publishers to raise ebook prices in order to topple Amazon's dominance. Same story, different territory.

 Apple, along with several major publishers, are facing a lawsuit in the US over illegally fixing the price on eBooks. The lawsuit, filed by law firm Hagens Berman in California northern district court, claims that HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster conspired with Apple to increase ebook prices in order "to boost profits and force ebook rival Amazon to abandon its pro-consumer discount pricing", and that they are "in violation of a variety of federal and state antitrust laws"

Pointing to Macmillan's battle with Amazon over the agency model last year, which ultimately saw the online retailer capitulate to Macmillan's introduction of the model "because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles", the lawsuit says the five publishers "forced Amazon to abandon its discount pricing and adhere to a new agency model ... If Amazon attempted to sell ebooks below the publisher-set levels, the publishers would simply deny Amazon access to the title." This has, the suit says, seen the prices of new ebooks increase to an average of $12-15 – a rise of 33 to 50% – and reach a point where they are often more expensive than physical editions.

Apple has reportedly filled up its upcoming iBook Store for iPad with a wide variety of free ebook titles curated by Project Gutenberg, heading off any attempts by third parties to profiteer on literature in the public domain.

AppAdvice.com says Apple has already listed more than 30,000 free books from Project Gutenberg into its new ebook store for the upcoming iPad (as pictured below). The Gutenberg library of free digital books is supported by volunteer efforts, which maintains a huge collection of literature in the public domain.

While Apple has already announced that the iPad's iBooks application would be compatible with the ePub format, this latest news shows that it will be even easier for users to access public domain books directly through the iBook Store. Apple is not preinstalling the iBooks app on the iPad, but it will be available for free from the App Store, allowing competing ereader apps such as Amazon's Kindle App for iPhone an equal footing. FULL STORY