Ebook price-setting promise

Ebook prices could fall after Apple and four of the world's biggest publishers offered to avoid setting the price of digital reads for five years in response to a European Union competition inquiry.

The EU began investigating alleged price-fixing last year, examining Apple's deals with publishers and the publishers' deals with retailers. If the offer from Apple, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Hachette is accepted, it will end the EU's investigation without fines.