Last week, on the first day of the trial in Epic Games’ antitrust lawsuit against Apple, Apple’s attorney made an argument that amounted to “we shouldn’t even be here.” The dispute between the two companies began last year when Epic intentionally broke Apple’s rules by setting up its own in-app payment system in the iOS version of its game
Fortnite, getting banned from the App Store in the process. Thanks to that stunt—which included a very pointed parody of Apple’s famous “1984” ad that cast the once-rebellious device-maker as the modern internet’s Big Brother—the two companies are now embroiled in a dispute that could impact the future of the App Store, one of the most important, and lucrative, gateways in tech. If Epic prevails in the suit, it would likely be free to create its own app store on iOS devices, where it could distribute its games and apps from other developers. That would break Apple’s “walled garden,” siphon off millions of dollars of Apple’s profits, and change the iPhone as we know it.