Apple and Epic have established their lists of potential witnesses to The Epic Games trial on the App Store’s allegedly anti-competitive practices, and it’s almost a who’s who of leadership in both companies – and beyond. TechCrunch and MacRumors report Apple wants CEO Tim Cook, senior vice president of software Craig Federighi and former head of marketing Phil schiller to testify in the case. Epic executives Tim Sweeney and Mark Rein are also reportedly among those called to testify, as are third-party witnesses from Facebook, Microsoft and NVIDIA, among others.
Epic wants Tim Sweeney and other staff to testify with Apple’s Eddy Cue and former iOS software chief Scott Forstall.
In a statement, Apple argued that its executives would illustrate the “very positive impact” of the App Store and show that Epic violated his agreement only for profit. It bypassed security features in such a way that it would have led to less competition, not more, Apple said. Epic, meanwhile, said the collective opposition to Apple’s policies had “become stronger” and that it would show the need for more competition.
The trial is set to begin on May 3 and you will be able to see leaders testify in person despite the pandemic – Judge Yvonne Gonzalez has argued that the bench trial (i.e. without a jury) is important enough for witnesses appear in court.
There is no guarantee that either party will get all the witnesses they want. If even some of them do appear, however, you can expect significant (even shocking) testimony during the trial. At least it shows that Apple and Epic have a clear belief that their executives will survive scrutiny.
