Apple’s Tim Cook to defend App Store at Epic Games trial

Epic claims the app store has morphed into a price-gouging vehicle that not only reaps a 15 to 30 percent commission from in-app transactions, but blocks apps from offering other payment alternatives.

Apple CEO Tim Cook will take the witness stand Friday to defend the company’s iPhone app store against charges that it has grown into an illegal monopoly — one far more profitable than his predecessor Steve Jobs envisioned when it opened up 13 years ago. The technology company is counting on Cook’s appearance to put the finishing touches on Apple’s defence against an antitrust case brought by Epic Games, maker of the popular video game Fortnite. Epic is trying to topple the so-called “walled garden” for iPhone and iPad apps that welcomes users and developers while keeping competition out. Created by Jobs a year after the iPhone’s 2007 debut, the App Store has become a key revenue source for Apple, a money-making machine that helped power the company to a $57bn profit in its last fiscal year.