What did we learn from the recent Epic Games (Fortnite maker) vs Apple lawsuit?
Plenty.
I am beyond impressed with US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. Perhaps more than any other judge, she dove deep into the app ecosystem, App Stores, mobile gaming, and more to make the recent judgement. In the process, she revealed a ton of information that both Apple and Epic would really prefer stay private.
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That information is buried, however, in her 185-page report. I’ve gone through that report and found the 36 most interesting findings.
They’re in my post at Forbes here, and they’re also in the latest episode of the TechFirst podcast. Watch here:
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From my post at Forbes:
Epic won, sort of. And lost.
Fortnite maker Epic sued Apple over a year ago (and Google too, separately) for the right to offer its own payment mechanisms in its games on iPhone and iPad. Apple’s in-app payment mechanism, of course, charges a 15-30% fee. Today, Epic won, as U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple must allow developers to provide third-party payment options in apps.
Apple sort of won too, as Rogers did not find that Apple was a monopoly, even though it did engage in anticompetitive conduct as defined by California law. And, in fact, Rogers ruled in favor of Apple on nine of the ten claims Epic made.
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