DOJ Misfires on Jobs Email in Apple E-Book Case — It Was a Discarded Draft

So that seemingly smoking gun e-mail from Apple CEO Steve Jobs to SVP Eddy Cue in the Department of Justice’s e-book price fixing case against Apple? The one that appeared to undermine the company’s argument that it was indifferent to the pricing model publishers used with other retailers like Amazon? According to new evidence submitted by Apple, it’s hardly warm, let alone smoking.

The document cited by the government is simply a draft message that was never sent. What Apple entered into evidence is the final version of that message, the one that was actually sent to Cue, and it differs significantly from that apparently damning draft. Crucially, it does not contain any language suggesting publishers need to push Amazon to the agency model Apple wanted for its own e-book store. Indeed, it expressly acknowledges that publishers might continue their wholesale pricing arrangements with Amazon.