Amazon and Apple have called off possibly their only business agreement after terminating an audio book deal on Thursday. Both tech giants reportedly made the decision due to pressure from anti-trust regulators in Germany and the European Commission.
After the decision was made public, the German anti-trust regulator announced that it is dropping its probe against the contractual agreement. The European Commission anti-trust regulator also said that it welcomes the decision.
The contractual agreement bonded Amazon and Apple in an exclusive deal. The deal required Apple to source audio books only from Amazon's Audible, which in-turn was not allowed to supply audiobooks to any other digital platform besides Apple's iTunes store.
Both companies decided to terminate the contractual agreement on Jan. 5, but they only announced the decision on Thursday.
The exclusive agreement was signed in 2008 when Amazon acquired audiobook company Audible, which had a contract with Apple iBooks.
The agreement got into a big problem in 2015, after German competition watchdog launched a probe against it. The investigation was in response to several complaints lodged by the German publishers, who claimed that Apple and Amazon were abusing their market dominance.
Now, with the contract being called off, German publishers have got a much-needed sigh of relief.
"We very much welcome that the two companies have given up their exclusivity agreement and that iTunes is open for other audio book providers," said Alexander Skipis, head of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association.
Meanwhile, Amazon will continue to face investigation by the anti-trust body of the European Commission for other cases. Authorities are investigating whether Amazon is enforcing unfair terms on publishers that may harm the interest of electronic book buyers.
The company is in talks with EU authorities to settle the dispute through negotiation, people familiar with the matter have said.