Epic vs. Apple: Trial has started, that's the state

Epic vs. Apple

Battle Royale for App Store supremacy: Apple and Epic Games started a legal battle in California yesterday. The court proceedings are to clarify whether Apple will soon have to allow competition from third-party providers in addition to its own centralized app store on iPhones.

It all started with Epic selling the Fortnite in-game currency V-Bucks iOS devices was no longer offered through the app store, but directly in the app, thus avoiding the 30 percent fee payable to Apple for every purchase made. As a result, Apple completely banned Fortnite and Epic Games from the app store. This action was anticipated by Epic and was part of a long-planned offensive against the mandatory fees of the Apple and Google app stores. With the hashtag #Freefortnite and the call to fight in the video, Tim Sweeney's company made wind against the alleged oppressors of Apple in the days and weeks that followed.

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In late 2017, Kansas police shot and killed an innocent family man after a Call of Duty player hired a swatter over an argument with an opponent. He tricked the police into taking hostages at the adversary's alleged place of residence. var lstExcludedArticleTicker = '1371419,1369123,1269323,1257228'; While Epic's designation of the events as "Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite" suggests that it is about a political dispute between a fascist corporate regime on the one hand and selfless resistance fighters on the other, the dispute in truth is of course primarily about preventing Apple's house rules that the company can make more money than it already does.

Recommended editorial content Here you will find external content from [PLATFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I consent to external content being displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration. Nevertheless, the outcome of the proceedings could have consequences that are beyond Sweeney's purse. Epic's argumentation implies that Apple should allow other app stores on its iOS devices in addition to the centralized app store, since otherwise the company would have a monopoly. This has been compared to a car manufacturer that receives 30 percent of its revenue every time a driver refuels his car.

Apple's counter-argument is that the app store is simply a part of iPhones and iPads and not a separate one Product. Similar conditions apply to consoles like the Playstation, which Epic doesn't seem to have a problem with fulfilling them. Selling on the iPhone is just more lucrative. Accordingly, Apple would not have a monopoly, since it would compete with storefronts such as the Playstation and Microsoft stores and Steam and its own market share would be a lot smaller. In addition, ensuring high security standards justify a centralized store and a 30 percent levy is simply the value that the market has agreed on.

Epic is now trying to argue that smartphones should have a special position because people in Nowadays they are absolutely dependent on them in order to be reachable and there are actually almost only Android and iOs devices in circulation. Instead, Epic is aiming for a so-called "metaverse", in which the end device is irrelevant for the use and purchase of products.

Experts believe in a victory for Apple, but it could still close over the next few days and weeks one or the other surprise come. The responsible judge, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, expects an approximate duration of 15 to 17 days.

Source: PCGamer