Today’s mobile news roundup features Apple’s fierce defense of e-book pricing, Barnes & Noble’s new e-reader, and Windows 8 on iPad.

Apple defends e-book pricing

The U.S. government filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple Inc. and five of the six big publishing houses wherein Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster Inc., and HarperCollins Publishers LLC agreed to settle.  Apple, Penguin and Macmillan opted to defend themselves in court.

Apple and the publishing houses are being sued for allegedly conspiring to control e-book pricing.  In an e-mail, Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris stated their stance on the case, defending their pricing methods.

“The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry,” Kerris said.

Kerris also added that the e-book pricing on their store follows the same pricing structure with their AppStore, saying, “just as we have allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore,” Kerris added.

In other Apple news, the Mannheim Regional court in Germany declined Apple’s appeal for the push-notification injunction filed by Motorola Mobility.  They’re also being forced to pay damages to Motorola.

B&N launched e-book reader meant for reading in the dark

Barnes & Noble added a new e-reader to their Nook line that addresses the problem of most users have: reading in the dark.

B&N launched the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight which is a black-and-white device with a softly glowing backlit screen.  The device is priced at $139.

“There’s really one scenario that is dominant for e-readers that presents an unsolved problem for consumers, which is reading while lying in bed,” said Sarah Rotman Epps, a senior analyst for Forrester Research. “Thirty-eight percent of total e-reader time is spent lying in bed, and yet what do you do when your partner wants to go to sleep? This product solves a big problem for readers.”

Windows 8 on iPad

Remote control desktop software maker Splashtop released a new app that brings the Windows 8 Metro user interface to iPads.

The “Win8 Metro Testbed — powered by Splashtop” is a remote desktop application is meant for developers to test gestures and functionality of their Windows 8 applications on the iPad. The app replicates the Windows 8 UI, and developers will be able to test specific touch-driven applications.