Apple and Epic have compiled their lists of potential witnesses for the Epic Games lawsuit over allegedly anti-competitive practices on the App Store, and it’s almost who’s who at the helm of both companies – and beyond. TechCrunch and MacRumors report that Apple wants its CEO Tim Cook, senior software VP Craig Federighi and former marketing leader Phil Schiller to testify in the case. Epic executives Tim Sweeney and Mark Rein would also be among those called to testify, as well as other witnesses from Facebook, Microsoft and NVIDIA, among others.
Epic wants Tim Sweeney and other employees to testify alongside Apple’s Eddy Cue and former iOS software chief Scott Forstall.
In a statement, Apple argued that its executives would illustrate the App Store’s “very positive impact” and show that Epic breached its agreement just for the sake of profit. He was circumventing security features in a way that would have led to less competition, not more, Apple said. Epic, meanwhile, said that collective opposition to Apple’s policies “got louder” and that this would show the need for more competition.
The trial is due to begin on May 3 and you will be able to see the executives testify in person, despite the pandemic – Judge Yvonne Gonzalez argued that the bank trial (ie, no jury) is important enough for witnesses to appear in court.
There is no guarantee that neither side will have all the witnesses it wants. However, if even some of them do appear, you can expect an important (if not necessarily shocking) testimony during the trial. At the very least, it shows that Apple and Epic are clearly confident that their executives will survive a scrutiny.