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Apple Pokes at Amazon’s E-book Problem, Again

Late-summer corporate hijinks, featuring George Orwell.

by Peter Kafka
Peter Kafka
Peter Kafka covered media and technology, and their intersection, at Vox. Many of his stories can be found in his Kafka on Media newsletter, and he also hosts the Recode Media podcast.

Who knew the folks who run Apple’s e-book store were such sly jokesters?

I mean, maybe there’s some other explanation for the prominent appearance of George Orwell on the store’s front page yesterday:

But I’m pretty sure Apple’s spotlight on the author is a subtle response to Amazon’s use of Orwell earlier this month, in its fight with Hachette. Which seemed to generate some blowback.

Assuming this is a dart aimed at Amazon, it wouldn’t be the first one Apple has sent this summer. In June, Apple proudly announced it was happy to sell the Hachette books Amazon won’t stock.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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