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By David Rothman

image Apple’s bullies are tossing out e-book offerings for the iPhone even when the copyright risks aren’t that high. I’m not sure how this affects existing items. But either way, it’s bad news and smacks of Apple’s war on Google VOiP—well, assuming that the news reports are correct, which they might not be, considering the extent of the cluelessness ascribed to Apple.

Is this to pave way to some new Apple services and products despite all the noise saying Apple will rely heavily on third-parties? Remember, all too often, Apply can be Disinformation Central. It can go about the Jobs with old Kremlinesque fervor.

Meanwhile, here are more details from TUAW:


TUAW has learned that Apple has begun rejecting all e-book submissions because "this category of applications is often used for the purpose of infringing upon third party rights. We have chosen to not publish this type of application to the App Store." At first glance, this policy seems in line with Apple’s approach to applications that promise charitable contributions. Apple cannot police the developers and will not allow possibly fraudulent postings on their store. Apple does not want to be in the position of vetting rights claims.

At the same time, Apple has been rejecting applications from content providers who do in fact own the rights to their materials and can prove those rights. A colleague who spoke on the condition of anonymity related that a project he developed for a national content syndicate was rejected without recourse. He still got paid for his work but the application languishes without an outlet.

I’m a lot less trusting of Apple than others. The latest news is yet more reason to aim for robus e-book-format standards and open distribution. Go, U.S. Justice Department. If Apple lives down to our worst fears, it might be begging for a lawsuit (I’ll let the lawyers tussle over that one).

(Via the industrious Mike Cane.)

 
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