Tim Cook says he “can’t wait to move forward” after Epic decision

Apple CEO Tim Cook told employees he “looks forward to moving forward” after a verdict in the Epic vs. Apple antitrust case. In a hands-on meeting with employees, Cook echoed Apple’s public stance on the case, celebrating the company’s legal victories and downplaying its loss on an unfair competition complaint.

“If you take a backup and remember what the App Store is, the App Store was designed to be a trusted place for users to explore and discover apps. It was supposed to be a great business opportunity for the developers, ”Cook told employees, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The edge. “Epic came along and basically wanted to be treated in a special way. Our rules are that we treat everyone the same. They repeatedly ask us to treat them differently, we said no and they sued us on 10 different points. The court ruled on nine of them in favor of Apple and one in favor of Epic. More importantly, they decided that Apple was not a monopoly, which we have always known. Apple is in an extremely competitive market.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney last year asked Apple to allow it to include other payment methods in its iOS version of the game. Fortnite. However, Sweeney said that Epic “hopes[d] that Apple will also make these options available to all iOS developers.

Contrary to Cook’s statement that “we treat everyone the same,” Apple has given special treatment to a variety of app developers in the past. He offered Netflix a special offer where it only took a 15% reduction in subscriptions sold in the app, and evaluated the offer of special perks to Netflix if the video streaming company keeps the grip. in charge of in-app purchases. The company also defined categories of apps that can bypass its commission for in-app purchases, and blocked or decided not to offer apps that it apparently feared competing with. You can see examples of special treatment for particular developers in our collection of unearthed emails from the Epic vs. Apple trial.

Cook is correct, however, that a California judge ruled that Apple does not have a monopoly on digital game transactions – the relevant market in Epic vs. Apple. The company managed to avoid Epic’s demands to open iOS to third-party app stores and side-downloaded apps, and the court said Apple was justified in charging a commission on digital products.

Cook has not confirmed whether Apple plans to appeal its only loss: the verdict that Apple’s anti-leadership rules (which prevent developers from informing users of alternative payment options) violate California law on unfair competition. The ruling orders Apple to drop the rules by December. Meanwhile, Epic has indicated that it plans to appeal its own losses.

But as Apple spokesmen have done publicly, Cook suggested he wasn’t too worried. “I think the decision will be very good to try to put some discussions to rest on the App Store. As for the one we lost, there was a sentence or two crossed out of a chord, that was the extent of it. I can’t wait to move forward now, ”Cook said.