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Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
15,623
10,930
So…ok. As I feared right from the start. Basically Apple is way too big to fail, though it seems Epic is getting desperate. They surely don’t want to lose US market, but increasingly feel like they will.
So much about the “alternative app store”.
 
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Chazak

macrumors 6502
Aug 15, 2022
457
690
Apple doesn't pay outside counsel. They have a very large legal staff.
Apple’s house counsel does not and never has handled these kinds of cases. Corporate law and what these firms do has little in common.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher is representing Apple and Cravath, Swaine & Moore is representing Epic. Both are old line, white shoe firms which have groups specializing in these types of cases. None of them are Apple employees. Apple's legal fees for outside counsel

It is widely known and easily corroborated with a few clicks.

$60 million on outside counsel on Samsung issues, $1 billion annual legal budget. They spend huge for outside counsel.
 

Chazak

macrumors 6502
Aug 15, 2022
457
690
So we all actually believe that Apple’s policy of preventing developers from referring users to non-Apple methods of payment is good? Is that more about hatred for Epic, or hatred of ourselves as consumers?
Deep my brother. Very deep.
 

Unregistered 4U

macrumors G3
Jul 22, 2002
9,977
7,932
So we all actually believe that Apple’s policy of preventing developers from referring users to non-Apple methods of payment is good? Is that more about hatred for Epic, or hatred of ourselves as consumers?
It’s not good or bad, it’s what the policy they had in place and ANY developer was free to say “screw you Apple” and release their wares on other platforms. Many did, and were successful doing so.

And, as consumers, it would take being under a very PARTICULAR kind of rock for an extended time to know fully about an app, probably from an internet search, but NOT know that you can purchase a subscription outside of it, also information that can come from an internet search :)
 

4odomi

Cancelled
Jan 19, 2018
1,203
1,220
🤣 Epic is doomed. Doomed!

2021 = $28.7 billion valuation
2022 = $31.5 billion valuation
2023 = $32 billion valuation


Epic Games Raised $2 Billion. Its Valuation Rivals Publicly Traded Games Giants.

April 11, 2022

Epic Games said it raised $2 billion in a funding round that including Sony Group and LEGO Group owner Kirkbi as investors. The company, best known for creating the Fortnite game and the Unreal Engine development tool, hit a private valuation of $31.5 billion.

Sony and Kirkbi each invested $1 billion, Epic said. CEO and founder Tim Sweeney still has a controlling stake in the firm, the company said.

Epic announced a $1 billion round that valued the firm at $28.7 billion in April 2021. The higher valuation is a good sign for Epic, given how public markets soured on videogame companies in the past year.

The $31.5 billion figure compares to EA’s recent market capitalization of $34.5 billion and Take-Two Interactive Software ’s recent capitalization of $16.2 billion.
Valuations are just a futures bet, they don't actually represent the companies revenues and profits, also they are very often spun by the company itself
 

MysticCow

macrumors 68000
May 27, 2013
1,561
1,740
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher is representing Apple and Cravath, Swaine & Moore are representing Epic. Both are old line, white shoe firms which have groups specializing in these types of cases. None of them are Apple employees.

It must be cheaper to go with a firm than to have in-house attorneys? Or is the case so specialized that an in-house wouldn’t have the weaponry that a targeted firm would have?
 

Chazak

macrumors 6502
Aug 15, 2022
457
690
It must be cheaper to go with a firm than to have in-house attorneys? Or is the case so specialized that an in-house wouldn’t have the weaponry that a targeted firm would have?
It is mostly the weaponry / fire-power, but is almost certain the outside firms are more expensive than the salaries of in-house counsel.

I am sure Apple has a lot of very good attorneys on the staff, but this is highly specialized work and the in house staff practices a more generalized form of corporate law. It is kind of like going to see your GP when you have a pretty good idea the problem will require the expertise of a neurologist. You start with the GP, tell him your head hurts and she says you need to see a neurologist.

In a past life, I worked for a fairly well known investment bank and we had a sizable staff of in house attorneys, but we always went to outside for big issues and litigation.
 
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Doomtomb

macrumors 6502a
Jul 14, 2011
654
1,094
Austin, TX
Seems like only the corporate lawyers ever get rich in these trials. No changes. Maybe a verdict or appeal here or there, but the date to actually enforce something is so far off the amount of damages has already been covered by profits many times over.
 
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genovelle

macrumors 68020
May 8, 2008
2,102
2,677
Reasonable. I think the anti-steering is low hanging fruit as a policy to stop to allow more opportunities for developers.
The biggest problem is the only developers to benefit with be multi million or billion dollar companies like Epic. They want to steer customers that Apple spends millions marketing the use their platform to buy direct from them cutting Apple out. It will cause irreparable damage to consumers because Apple is a for profit business and when the profit is removed they can’t justify their continued investment into the platform. That means it will die on the vine and eventually be discontinued.
 
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redheeler

macrumors G3
Oct 17, 2014
8,419
8,841
Colorado, USA
Let’s hear from the developers who agree that a “careful balance” means a mandate to either upcharge their customers by 30% or have 30% of their revenue taken away. Yeah they never had a say in this did they…
 

redheeler

macrumors G3
Oct 17, 2014
8,419
8,841
Colorado, USA
I couldn’t care less about Epic Games but I hope they win. Someone had to challenge Apple and no small developer could thanks to our broken legal system. The ramifications of this go beyond a single company or even the iOS platform as a whole.
 

Unregistered 4U

macrumors G3
Jul 22, 2002
9,977
7,932
Let’s hear from the developers who agree that a “careful balance” means a mandate to either upcharge their customers by 30% or have 30% of their revenue taken away. Yeah they never had a say in this did they…
They had a say the moment RIGHT before they clicked to sign up and pay to be a developer on the App Store. And, many have gone on to make hundreds of thousands of dollars targeting affluent users that have proven to be more apt to spending money on digital goods than users on competing platforms. That’s the customer base Apple’s built and the customer base those developers happily pay a percentage of their profits to have access to.

And, really, who wouldn’t accept a $700,000 payday on $1,000,000 in revenue? OR heck, $35,000 on $50,000 in revenue? Perhaps those that lack basic business sense? :)
 
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