Random, off the cuff thoughts on the Epic Games complaint v Apple. I'm writing these as I read, so it'll be stream of consciousness

1. This was written w/ far more than just the suit in mind. It tells a compelling story intended for public consumption.

https://cdn2.unrealengine.com/apple-complaint-734589783.pdf

The framing is also super broad. Epic's story here is one of monopoly and anti-trust, so they get to characterize the full marketplace - makes it clear their fight is on behalf of everyone suffering Apple's "oppressive" 30% tax on app sales.

I'm not at the Prayer for Relief yet (the part of the complaint that says what the plaintiffs wants to get if it wins), but this is spicy framing.

I never knew this. I'm not an antitrust expert, but sounds like an insane level of market control.

For those keeping score at home, the complaint uses the word "monopoly" 59 times and mentions that Apple iOS has over a billion users 9 times.

Epic anticipating one of the biggest counter-points from Apple. I'm already excited to read the Answer...

Epic doesn't even explain who it is or what it does until page 5, paragraph 15. The first 4+pages are used to provide a thorough overview of Apple's marketplace control (and alleged anti-competitive behavior) - not gonna lie, on first read it's pretty damning.

The setup here has already been discussed, but it really was beautiful:

Look at us trying to save our customers money. Apple immediately killed it. That's how much control they have.

Also, the fact that they're not seeking monetary damages simplifies the case down to just the legal issues - means it will go faster.

Google/Android finally get mentioned on page 13. Meanwhile, at Google HQ:

I'm not saying it's a monopoly because I'm wildly under-qualified to have an opinion on that topic...

With that said, if you're going to have a monopoly, you want it to be this kind of a market

Epic repeatedly points out that the customer experience on Apple phones vs. computers is fundamentally different. Someone who knows more than me about antitrust law, please explain why this matters...

When you look at it this way, Apple's 30% charge for any in-app purchase really does seem absurd.

This feels like the real heart of the case. Is this actually a monopoly? Can't consumers simply choose to buy a different phone? This is simultaneously the most boring and important part of the complaint.

They're kind of losing me here... They're saying the product is too good, so everyone wants it, so they *can't* switch to a new phone and therefore escape the anti-competitive behavior. IDK about this one...

OK, I'm now to the Counts, which is pretty much just a recitation of the same facts but in short sequence to make sure they're checking the boxes of each element of each complaint. We're at the home stretch - likely not much more exciting to report.

The Counts are what you'd expect - lots of Federal and California-based antitrust claims. I'm sure there's plenty of fascinating stuff here to dissect, but it's too technical for this thread and I'm too much of an antitrust noob to do it anyway.

That's all from me folks. Thanks for reading. Gonna sign off with my favorite part about all of this - that intro framing was just so good: