MacRumors

Last December, the U.S. Department of Justice acknowledged that it was conducing an antitrust investigation into the new "agency model" of e-book pricing that was championed by Apple ahead of its iBookstore rollout, a model in which publishers could set the retail prices of their books but could not sell them to retailers other than Apple for lower prices. A similar investigation has been ongoing in Europe as well.

The Wall Street Journal now reports that the Department of Justice has warned Apple and five e-book publishers that it intends to file an antitrust lawsuit against the companies over the matter, in which the companies are alleged to have colluded to raise the price of e-books.

Several of the parties have held talks to settle the antitrust case and head off a potentially damaging court battle, these people said. If successful, such a settlement could have wide-ranging repercussions for the industry, potentially leading to cheaper e-books for consumers. However, not every publisher is in settlement discussions.

The five publishers facing a potential suit are CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster Inc.; Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group; Pearson PLC's Penguin Group (USA); Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH; and HarperCollins Publishers Inc., a unit of News Corp. , which also owns The Wall Street Journal.

Many publishers were happy to sign on to Apple's agency model for book pricing, seeking to gain greater control of pricing for their content. After signing deals with Apple, they then turned to Amazon and other retailers, forcing them into the same arrangements by threatening to withhold their books from those retailers.

The Justice Department believes that Apple and the publishers acted in concert to raise prices across the industry, and is prepared to sue them for violating federal antitrust laws, the people familiar with the matter said.

The publishers have denied acting jointly to raise prices. They have told investigators that the shift to agency pricing enhanced competition in the industry by allowing more electronic booksellers to thrive.

Arguments that the agency model has actually increased competition center on Amazon's dominant position in the retail book industry, where it had frequently sold books at razor thin profits or even losses in order to attract customers for its broader shopping offerings. Under the agency model, greater price uniformity across retailers has allowed more companies to be competitive in the marketplace.

Following the new Apple TV's slip to a 1-2 week shipping estimate in Apple's U.S. online store late yesterday, the first signs of Apple's supplies of the new iPad beginning to run short have now emerged, with 16 GB and 64 GB models of the AT&T 4G iPad in white now showing estimated shipping dates of March 19 in the store. All models had previously been listed as delivering on the launch date of March 16.

Shipping dates are beginning to slip in other launch countries as well, with Apple's store for Japan showing delivery by March 19 and its German store citing a date of March 22. In Canada, several models including the black 64 GB Wi-Fi and white 32 GB Wi-Fi, 64 GB Wi-Fi, and 16 GB 4G are now showing an "available" date of March 19, while all models had previously been promised for delivery within the March 16-20 window.

Apple experienced several months' worth of shortages of the iPad 2 at launch, and the company is rolling out the new iPad on an even more aggressive schedule with ten countries being included in the first round on March 16 and 25 more being added just one week later.

Update: Apple's UK online store is now showing shipping estimates of 2-3 weeks for all models of the new iPad.

As it always does when it releases a new product, Apple has produced an elegant television commercial for the new iPad. Unsurprisingly, the ad focuses solely on the retina display, something that Apple feels sets the iPad apart from the other tablets on the market.

The ad doesn't talk about specifications or price. Instead, it shows the iPad being used to edit a photograph, read a book, watch a movie, and draw a picture.

When a screen becomes this good, colors are more vibrant. Words are pin sharp. Everything is more brilliant. Because when a screen becomes this good, it's simply you and the things you care about. The stunning Retina Display on the new iPad.

Earlier today, Apple announced iPhoto for the iPad and iPhone, saying it would launch today. Keeping to its word, iPhoto is now available for purchase. [Direct Link]

Additionally, updates to iMovie and GarageBand are now live as well.

With iPhoto for iOS, Apple brings Multi-Touch to photography in a breakthrough way. Browse, edit, and share your photos from your iPad or iPhone, like never before – all the powerful tools you need are at your fingertips. And with iCloud, you can share your experiences as stunning photo journals.

Use simple gestures to quickly sort through photos and find your best shots. A powerful set of Multi-Touch tools helps you perfect color and exposure, crop, straighten, and retouch images. Enhance pictures by adding beautiful, Apple-designed effects with just a tap. Or use fingertip brushes to apply adjustments exactly where you want them. In addition to posting photos to Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter, you can beam photos between your iPhone and iPad, stream photos and slideshows to your Apple TV with AirPlay, and use iCloud to publish photo journals to the web to share your stories with friends and family in a whole new way.

iPhoto is a universal app available for $4.99 on the App Store. [Direct Link]

iMovie is a universal app available for $4.99 on the App Store, and is a free upgrade for current owners. [Direct Link]

GarageBand is a universal app available for $4.99 on the App Store, and is a free upgrade for current owners. [Direct Link]

Several tech blogs have posted their hands-on impressions of the new iPad, announced earlier today.

Slashgear:

“It’s Resolutionary” Apple says of the new iPad, and we have to agree. We’ve just grabbed some hands-on time with the new Retina Display iOS 5.1 tablet, and the difference from the iPad 2 – which, remember, stays on sale alongside it – is vast. The pixels in the 2048 x 1536 display are, at regular arm’s length, completely indistinguishable: it’s only when you get up close that you can make them out.

The Verge:

Physically, the device feels nearly the same in hand as the previous model. Though it does have a slight bump in thickness, the difference is nearly unnoticeable. Since the design hasn't dramatically changed, there's not much to note in the casing department, and though there are improved cameras present, the general seating and size of the sensors seems unchanged.

Engadget:

There's no doubt that this here tablet feels every bit like a $500 product, oozing quality from edge to edge and being as delightful as ever to use. Is it the second coming of the tablet? Of course not, but if we've learned anything from the iPhone 4S, it doesn't need to be. Apple just put an insane amount of real estate in the hands of crafty developers, and frankly, we can't wait to see what they cook up.

Following Apple's announcement that iOS 5.1 would debut today, the software update is now available for existing iOS devices. Among the notable additions are Japanese language support for Siri, camera enhancements, and the ability to delete photos from users' Photo Streams.

This update contains improvements and bug fixes, including:

- Japanese language support for Siri (availability may be limited during initial rollout)
- Photos can now be deleted from Photo Stream
- Camera shortcut now always visible on Lock Screen for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
- Camera face detection now highlights all detected faces
- Redesigned Camera app for iPad
- Genius Mixes and Genius playlists for iTunes Match subscribers
- Audio for TV programs and films on iPad optimized to sound louder and clearer
- Podcast controls for playback speed and a 30-second rewind for iPad
- Addresses bugs affecting battery life
- Fixes and issue that occasionally caused audio to drop for outgoing calls

Apple's battery issues under iOS 5 were well-documented, and it appears that the 5.1 release takes additional steps to address that issue, while the update also seems to address audio issues that had been plaguing a number of users.

With the launch of the 3rd Generation iPad, Apple has increased the over-the-air download limit for the App Store to 50MB, up from 20MB.

As noted by AppAdvice, the change is presumably to accommodate larger app sizes due to the new iPad's Retina display and faster cellular data available with 4G LTE. The download limit is now 50MB across all devices, as shown in the above screenshot. This limit affects the maximum size of an App that can be downloaded over 3G or 4G networks.

Developers frequently work hard to keep their apps under the over-the-air download limit, as they believe going over that limit reduces the likelihood of spontaneous purchases.

Following the announcement today of a new 1080p-capable Apple TV, Netflix has announced that it will support 1080p streaming on the new Apple TV. In addition, users will be able to sign up and pay for Netflix service on both the second and third-generation Apple TV models, using their iTunes Store account.

Starting today, you can sign-up for Netflix directly on your Apple TV and pay via your iTunes account. Plus, with the new third generation Apple TV, you’ll also be able to watch thousands of hours of great movies and television streaming on Netflix in 1080p high definition and with room-filling Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.

Now, with a software update on your Apple TV, this seamless sign up and billing experience extends to the second generation Apple TV. The new sign up and payment experience on Apple TV is available wherever Netflix is, including in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Netflix's iOS app is also available free on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. [Direct Link]