NEW YORK: The late Steve Jobs took center stage Monday in the latest twist in the Apple antitrust trial on ebooks.A federal court attempted to plumb the meaning of a series of unsent emails Jobs addressed to Eddy Cue, an Apple senior vice president assigned with negotiating ebook contracts with major publishers in late 2009 and early 2010 before the launch of the iPad.Even though the emails were never sent, government prosecutors argue that they help establish a pattern of Apple serving as a "ringleader" in a conspiracy with the publishers to force the retail book industry to adopt higher prices of ebooks. The government contends that Apple forced publishers to change their pricing system with Amazon, resulting in higher ebook prices across the industry and costing consumers hundreds of millions of dollars.Apple maintains that it was indifferent to Amazon's contracts with the publishers and that higher ebook prices were ...
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