U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is looking at Apple’s chief medical officer Tim Cook on why the iPhone manufacturer wouldn’t give users the option to purchase cheaper products from developers.
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Apple Inc. winner of anti-poverty lawsuit by Epic Games Inc. appeared Friday after the judge asked Tim Cook’s chief executive if his company was using its electronics market in a competitive manner.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers asked Cook why the iPhone manufacturer would not give consumers the option to purchase cheaper products from the manufacturers – and only allow them to purchase through Apple’s App Store, a case at the heart of the case.
During his first trial in court, Mr. Cook answered questions for more than two hours in court in Oakland, California, as a three-week trial in a major war between companies that were about to end.
“What’s the problem with allowing users the opportunity to make a choice, especially in a game, to have a sufficiently inexpensive approach?” Gonzalez Rogers asked.
Cook, who was heavily questioned by the judge at the last minute of the meeting, said consumers “have a choice today” to buy cheap Android phones on iPhones.
Gonzalez Rogers pressured Cook to further ask him “what’s the problem with Apple” if users want the opportunity to pay less outside the App Store to buy V-Bucks, the game money spent on Epic blockbuster Fortnite games.
“If only we had stopped paying back completely to our IP,” Cook replied, referring to the company’s intelligence.
Epic was sued in August after Apple released Fortnite from the App Store because the developer created a workshop to avoid paying a 30% fine on customer purchases. The idea of the Epic Rules of the App Store hurts producers and hinders competition.
Cook, a soft-spoken 60-year-old who has been CEO since 2011, pushed back Epic saying the App Store juice benefits from unfair and self-crafted content.
Cook testified that it would be “bad” for iPhone and iPad users if the judge ordered the company to allow other third-party markets, in addition to its App Store, as Epic demands.
“It can be a big problem, and fraudulent issues can go up” because customers need to enter more credit card information, “Cook said.
