2 Economists Better Than 1 Is Apple IPod Trial Strategy

Apple Inc. tried a two-economists-are-smarter-than-one strategy to convince a jury in a $1 billion antitrust trial that it wasn’t trying to cheat consumers with its early iPod upgrades.

Two University of Chicago professors summoned by Apple testified Dec. 10 and Thursday that a Stanford University economist called earlier as a witness by consumer attorneys got it wrong when he calculated that “locking” iPod users to iTunes raised prices starting in 2006 and resulted in damages to consumers and retailers totaling $351 million.