Key Apple executive defends company at e-book price-fixing trial

Apple executive Eddy Cue vigorously argued before a federal judge that the company did not try to hurt tech rivals by illegally pushing the publishing industry to adopt an anti-competitive e-books price program. Instead Cue, the head of content and iTunes for Apple, portrayed the firm as singularly focused on its own foray into the e-books market that was dominated by rival Amazon. Apple customers got “great prices, great selection, at a better bookstore,” Cue said in response to Justice Department prosecutors at the Manhattan U.S. District Court. He was asked whether in the six weeks of negotiations with publishing executives in December 2009 and January 2010 he ever spoken about getting publishers to change their price plans with Amazon. Cue repeatedly rejected the notion. “No, we talked about moving Apple,” he said.