Before Apple even met with the first Publisher Defendant in mid-December 2009, it knew that the «
Big Six» of United States
publishing --- the Publisher Defendants and Random
House (collectively, the «Publishers»)-- wanted to raise e-book prices, in particular above the $ 9.99 prevailing price charged
by Amazon for many e-book versions of New York Times bestselling books («NYT Bestsellers») and other newly
released hardcover books («New
Releases»).