Apple CEO Tim Cook, software chief Craig Federighi, Apple Fellow Phil Schiller, and other executives will be testifying in the ongoing Epic v Apple trial in court. Apple submitted the names of its witnesses recently, while Epic’s list of witnesses includes Epic’s CEO Tim Sweeney, and former Apple employee Scott Forstall, who was instrumental in the launch of iOS and App Store.
Epic v Apple trial will see Apple’s leadership testify in court
The bench trial between Epic v Apple will be underway starting May 3, as both parties opted to not have a jury involved. Apple’s witnesses will testify to talk about the economic impact and benefits of the App Store, and how Epic’s circumvention of policies threatens customers.
In a statement given to MacRumors, an Apple spokesperson said:
Our senior executives look forward to sharing with the court the very positive impact the App Store has had on innovation, economies across the world and the customer experience over the last 12 years. We feel confident the case will prove that Epic purposefully breached its agreement solely to increase its revenues, which is what resulted in their removal from the App Store. By doing that, Epic circumvented the security features of the App Store in a way that would lead to reduced competition and put consumers’ privacy and data security at tremendous risk.
Epic had sued Apple and Google after both companies banned Fortnite from their respective digital storefronts because the company went against the agreed terms. Epic silently added its own payment mechanism to Fortnite, to try and circumvent the 30% commission that App Store and Play Store charge to developers. Once Fortnite was blocked , Epic cried foul and launched a campaign accusing both Apple and Google of “anti-competitive” policies and demanded that it should be allowed to create its own app store on iOS.
Tim Sweeney, Epic Games’ CEO, has continued his public attacks against Apple. Earlier today, he blamed the “Apple marketing team” of putting Fortnite in PUBG. It is interesting to note that PUBG Mobile made the Battle Royale genre popular, which Epic copied with Fortnite.
Remember Apple tried to block Epic from developing Unreal Engine for iOS.
PUBG Mobile is powered by Unreal Engine.https://t.co/2I1bKH5YJF
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) March 19, 2021
Read more:
- Judge orders Valve to produce Steam data for Apple in Epic Games lawsuit
- Apple subpoenas Valve’s sensitive Steam data in its legal case against Epic Games
- UK court refuses Epic Games’ appeal against Apple but gave a mixed ruling against Google
- Epic Games has filed EU antitrust complaint against Apple
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