This hearing went really, really poorly for Epic. The judge repeatedly told Epic's lawyers she wasn't particularly persuaded by their arguments with regards to several key aspects of their case. Epic's case hinges on being able to establish that Apple has a "monopoly" in the single-brand market of "iOS app distribution". However, the judge seemed rather unconvinced that a market definition consisting of only iOS devices was actually the correct market to analyze. If Epic can't establish that "iOS app distribution" is in fact a valid antitrust market, they're going to have a lot of problems with their case, as both their section 1 (tying) claim and section 2 (monopoly maintenance) claim rely on that market definition.
As an aside, I've read a number of comments here lamenting that the judge doesn't understand tech, but I think the opposite is true as well: many of the commenters here don't understand the law. The judge needs to work within the framework of existing legal precedent when making her decisions, and unfortunately for Epic, it doesn't really seem like existing precedent is on their side.
As a specific example, many of the comments here point out that smartphones are not like gaming consoles because smartphones are general-purpose computing devices whereas consoles are entertainment devices. Be that as it may, there's nothing in US law that says general-purpose computing devices are supposed to be treated differently than other products for the purposes of antitrust analysis.
As an aside, I've read a number of comments here lamenting that the judge doesn't understand tech, but I think the opposite is true as well: many of the commenters here don't understand the law. The judge needs to work within the framework of existing legal precedent when making her decisions, and unfortunately for Epic, it doesn't really seem like existing precedent is on their side.
As a specific example, many of the comments here point out that smartphones are not like gaming consoles because smartphones are general-purpose computing devices whereas consoles are entertainment devices. Be that as it may, there's nothing in US law that says general-purpose computing devices are supposed to be treated differently than other products for the purposes of antitrust analysis.