Apple Inc.’s App Store has long been praised as a growth engine. Currently, the world’s most marketable company is fighting in U.S. court to not show in public just how profitable it is.
The trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, In that Epic Games Inc. is alleging that Apple Inc.’s 30% commission on app sales is a violation of antitrust law and cheating developers and customers. Epic’s also looking advantage of gain free access to the App Store, which has to get support from mom-and-pop developers and also giants like Microsoft Corp., comes among increasing global regulatory scrutiny of Apple’s domination of software on its universal phones. On Friday, the European Union issued a warning over the App Store, stating it thinks Apple abused its power.
Apple has requested the judge in California to close the courtroom when Epic asks an expert witness to explain the 'the purported 'profitability' of the App Store on a standalone basis.' Apple told in a filing late Wednesday that it isn't opposing to the court considering such evidence provided by Epic, but is 'concerned that analysts, investors, reporters, and others in the marketplace could misinterpret the public disclosure of non-public, unaudited financial information.'
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland is assumed to hear nearly three weeks of testimony from economists and executives without a jury. Epic Games is trying similar legal actions against Apple in the U.K. and Australia.
Epic Games told in a court filing Friday that it wants to discuss in open court what happened to the vow by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2008 that “we don’t intend to make money off the App Store."Sealing the courtroom would “conceal from the public record facts and evidence showing whether Apple lived up to Mr. Jobs’s promise, or instead earns persistent and extraordinary profit margins from its App Store commissions,’’ Epic said.
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