Apple and Epic Games return to court over App Store order
Next week, two high-ranking Apple executives along with three other senior employees from the company are slated to take the stand in a California federal court. This follows a judge’s decision to reconvene a hearing addressing allegations that Apple, the iPhone manufacturer, has breached her directive to foster greater competition within its highly profitable App Store ecosystem.
In an order on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland rejected Apple’s bid to shield some employees from testifying at the hearing, part of an antitrust lawsuit lodged in 2020 by “Fortnite” maker Epic Games.
Rogers ordered Apple in 2021 to give developers more power to steer app users to payment options outside of Apple’s ecosystem. Epic has accused Apple of breaching that order by imposing an onerous commission on some transactions.
Two top Apple executives, Phil Schiller and Carson Oliver, are expected to defend the company’s conduct at the hearing. Three other employees including Marni Goldberg, director of corporate communications at Apple, are also set to testify after Rogers dismissed Apple’s objections.
MacDailyNews Take: Regardless, Rogers’ order is ludicrous.
This is akin to a judge forcing Best Buy and Target to place signs next to each product that advertise lower prices for the same items at Walmart…
If developers like Epic Games want to advertise lower prices [to be had elsewhere via] Apple’s App Store, Apple should simply begin charging an “In-Store Advertising” fee, because that’s exactly what it would be. – MacDailyNews, July 27, 2023
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