Tim Cook once had to answer questions from Congress about Apple’s market power, and now he faces litigation related to that issue in court.
The iPhone maker’s CEO is due to appear on Friday morning as the company’s high-profile antitrust trial with Epic Games draws to a close.
At the center of this long-running lawsuit is Fortnite, a popular video game produced by Epic that was removed from Apple’s App Store last summer for violating Apple’s rules on technical billing. due to have arbitrarily established a payment system of their own. Apple takes 30% of the value of in-app purchases on iOS devices and does not allow the use of alternative payment systems. Fortnite’s removal from the App Store prompted Epic to file a lawsuit against Apple. Squeeze the developer Epic accuses Apple of having monopolistic control over the “ecosystem” of the iOS operating system, with app makers forced to abide by its strict restrictions if they want access to hundreds of thousands of users. million iPhone and iPad users, Apple also countered that there are several other places where users can buy apps and their commissions help the company make its devices better and more secure. The CEO has his first court appearance since taking power at Apple. Photo: Getty. Several executives from both sides also testified, including Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, and Phil Schiller, Apple’s former chief marketing officer, now serving as Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering. new role as Apple Fellow. Both were subpoenaed by the court earlier this week. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is the first witness in the nearly three-week trial and is expected to end on Monday. Tim Cook and Apple are facing many dangers, not only this cult lawsuit. Cook’s testimony on Friday is likely to spark a battle against the growing antitrust pressure it is facing. Other “Frenemy” (meaning both friends and enemies) like Spotify and Match Group, the owner of Tinder, have all accused Apple of anti-competitive behavior. Even legal authorities in some countries including the US and UK have launched investigations into Apple’s regulations. Despite numerous defenses before Congress and numerous public appearances and interviews, Mr Cook appears to be preparing for his day in court. According to a report from Wall Street Journal , he spent many hours mock interrogation with former prosecutors to simulate what he might face during the trial. “The scary thing for Epic is that Tim Cook is such a compelling witness,” said Herbert Hovenkap, professor of legal studies and business ethics at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He’s doing what he’s been paid to do, which is bringing Apple’s lawsuit to the public.” According to the list of witnesses presented to the court, Mr. Cook will speak about “Corporate Values; Apple’s business operations and the development and launch of the App Store; the competition that Apple faces.” An Apple representative said Mr. Cook is likely to share more from his personal perspective on security and privacy issues – issues he has often criticized companies in the past – and the importance of them to Apple’s product philosophy. Roses come with quality Mr. Cook is expected to synthesize and strengthen the arguments that other Apple lawyers, experts and executives have made during the trial – that the iPhone’s App Store is not a proprietary trademark. The company argues that the 30% commission it receives through in-app purchases is not an illegal gain, but rather to make Apple devices better, more secure like their strict management of applications on Apple devices. In his testimony, Schiller highlighted the amount of money Apple has spent on research and development — an estimated $100 billion over the past 15 years — to make product improvements that developers are benefiting from. it. He also sought to counter Epic’s efforts to accuse Apple of being a monopolist. The lawsuit between Apple and Epic will determine the future of the relationship between app developers and Apple. Photo: Cnet. Epic Games company says Apple is forcing developers to play by its draconian rules such as only using the App Store and means of paying for in-app purchases if it wants to gain access to a market of more than a billion dollars. iPhone and iPad users. (Michael Schmid, Apple’s head of game business development for the App Store, revealed during the trial that Apple made more than $100 million in commissions from Fortnite.) Schiller also listed a range of Apple competitors: Google, Samsung, Motorola, Huawei and even game consoles like Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s Switch. Apple claims that many of these companies also take 30% commissions and have similar restrictions on outside apps. “There are still a lot of other competitors in the distribution of applications, not just Apple,” he added. Federighi, the company’s chief software officer, further emphasized the importance of Apple’s security measures for the iOS operating system on its mobile devices. He even heavily criticized the company’s MacOS computer operating system during the trial. Unlike iPhones, Macbook laptops allow the use and download of applications from outside, a process known as “side-loading”. Epic has repeatedly pointed out and called on Apple to emulate this approach with its mobile devices. However, Apple’s lawyers and executives argue that the iPhone needs to be more secure because the risk of the device being exposed to security holes and exploitation is great, especially when smartphones are used. often contain more sensitive personal data of users than other devices such as computers, laptops… “If you take Mac security techniques and apply them to the iOS ecosystem, with so many devices and value for it, things are going to be a lot worse than they already are. on Mac,” said Mr. Federighi. “We now have a bunch of malware on Mac, which is much worse than iOS. It’s not acceptable!”. Florian Ederer, an economics professor at the Yale School of Management, thinks Cook will stick to his earlier arguments. “It is very difficult to get any new information or arguments from this CEO’s testimony that have not yet been brought to the attention of the judge,” he said. “Basically, having Cook in court is Apple’s best move to show the judge that they are taking this matter completely seriously. If there is any other purpose, perhaps it is the respect of Cook in particular and Apple in general for this lengthy litigation process,” Ederer added.
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