Epic Games v. Apple Trial Wraps Up, But We Likely Won’t Know the Outcome for Months

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The three week Epic Games v. Apple trial wrapped up today, with a series of debates that were held in lieu of traditional closing arguments. The wrap up follows Apple CEO Tim Cook‘s testimony last week, which saw him grilled by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Apple’s App Store policies.

As she did earlier in the trial, Rogers hinted that she may be leaning toward something of a compromise with a ruling that would see Apple required to allow apps like Fortnite to direct users to make purchases on the web rather than in apps, something that’s currently forbidden by the ‌App Store‌ rules.

In this scenario, Apple would be required to relax its “anti-steering” restrictions, but the rest of the iOS ecosystem would remain untouched and would function as normal. Apple’s lawyers attempted to say that Apple’s anti-steering rules are meant to improve transaction efficiency, but Cook’s testimony undermined that argument. “Cook conceded that it’s a method of being compensated for intellectual property,” Rogers said.

Epic’s lawyers argued that iOS should be opened up to competing app stores. Apple could still offer the security and privacy of the current ‌App Store‌, but with third-party app stores, customers would have a choice. Epic’s closing argument pointed toward the Mac as an example of what iOS should look like.

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