Patrick McGee Profile picture
May 3, 2021 37 tweets 9 min read Read on X
Start of *thread*

Will tweet some of the more glaring exhibits in the @Apple-@Epic trial -- moving too quickly to offer (much) commentary.
@Apple @epic App Store Margins (Apple has disputed these)
@Apple @epic “Apple’s claims of security falls short. Scam apps and copycat apps have gotten through the process…

So many bad apps made it through the allegedly secure review process that, as you can see from 2017, Apple noted that more than 400,000 apps were removed from the App Store.”
Phil Schiller in 2012, after a rip-off app hit #1: "What the hell is this?????

.... Is no one reviewing these Apps? Is no one minding the store?"
Epic makes the case that the App Store isn't especially secure, and that Apple knows it; "security" is just what they say to justify 30% fee.
Epic says the App Store monopoly is akin to a car dealer charging a customer a 30% fee every time they fill up in the car, with no other options allowed.

(Good analogy??)
Apple's Opening Argument just started...
“This case is a fundamental assault on Apple’s secure and integrated ecosystem.”
"Apple did not create a secure and integrated ecosystem to keep people out. It created a secure and integrated ecosystem so we could invite developers in -- without sacrificing the privacy, reliability, security and quality that customers want."
Apple says it gives developers what they need to be successful -- more than 10,000 APIs, plus Apple's IP
Apple says Fortnite is dismissing Apple's contributions but in the past it has praised them:
"Epic is asking for government intervention to take away a choice that consumers currently have."
Apple says in-app purchases weren't some devious way to alter terms with developers, but a response to their needs. When App Store launched, there were free app or paid . Devs asked for freemium — a free app with in-app purchases. A way for devs to make money via content.
Apple says it didnt invent the 30% rate -- it's the going rate.
Apple argues Epic doesn't impose restrictions on reaching its 1bn customers, b/c these customers play Fortnite on consoles, PCs, Android devices
The Majority of Fortnite User Accounts Are Not on iOS

"It makes you wonder what we're even doing here" Apple lawyer says
"I can buy V-bucks" -the Fortnite currency - "on one platform and then spend it on another."
Sweet Lord they've called a 20 minute recess
Apple found the following quote from one of Epic's expert witnesses. "That's quite an endorsement" Apple lawyer says
Apple says it knew from the beginning that iPhone was going to be "very different from PC or a Mac." It's mobile, has to work all the time. Reliability was paramount. Apple couldn't sacrifice on security....
The device has GPS, a mic, a camera. It has photos of your children. You might leave it on a bus. Without security bad actors would have a field day.

So human-centric app review was a critical layer to App Review / security.
Apple "freely acknowledges" that its security is not perfect, but the flaws must be measured against the overall numbers - 1.8m apps.
100% of all apps are automatically tested for malware. 100,000 are reviewed each week by 500 expert reviewers; Apple rejects a full 40% of them.
Apple: Epic says 'why can't you just allow sideloading like Android?'

They are asking us to get rid of a competitive advantage. Epic wants us to be something that we don't want to be - and that our consumers don't want.
Apple says if Epic prevails, the consequences will go way beyond Apple’s ecosystem.
Apple says for consumers and developers alike, this will lead to less security, less reliability, lower quality -- the very things antitrust tries to protect
Tim Sweeney up now -- first person to testify.
The audio quality is terrible - I can barely make out the words from Tim Sweeney
Q: "Did you perceive [muffled], [muffle], [muffled]?

Answer: "[muffled] found [muffled]product [muffled] engineers."

Q: in 2020?

Sweeney: Yes.
Two tech giants are battling in court and the tech used for the event is pre World War.
Recess for 45m.
Cross-exam of Sweeney now beginning. Hoping this is more of interest....

(Sound quality is better but remains muffled.)
After the hot fix, didn’t Epic continue to pay a 30% “tax” to Nintendo, Xbox?

Sweeney: Correct.
this moves way too quickly, sound is pretty bad, it's mostly of little consequence (for now), and I'm reticent of paraphrasing given what errors/simplifications might mean. no more for now
The court entered a “sealed session” for an unspecified amount of time; phone lines cut off.

Unexpected plus side: some really upbeat music on loop.

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More from @PatrickMcGee_

Mar 16, 2023
Microsoft’s Nadella says tech has entered a new era for productivity tools enhanced by AI.

Says we’ve been using AI on autopilot; now we’re making AI the co-pilot.

“We made a conscious design choice to put human agency both at a premium, and at the center of the product.”
“We believe this next generation of AI will unlock a new wave of productivity growth with powerful co pilots designed to remove the drudgery, from our daily tasks and jobs, freeing us to rediscover the joy of creation.” - @satyanadella
MSFT’s head of Office 365 says “your co-pilot for work” will “turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet,” aiding you in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook teams and more.
Read 9 tweets
Feb 21, 2023
*new story* @Apple has captured Gen Z in the US so thoroughly that American teens fear being electronically ostracized if they don't own an iPhone.

A thread, augmented by me having fun with @midjourney_ai the last week. (Pls note these images are not used in the story!) Image
Gen Z now makes up 34% of iPhone owners in the US (vs. 10% at Samsung); 76% of iPhone owners are 18-34, per Attain.

Gen Z's preference for iPhone helps explain how Apple's share of the US market grew from 35% in 2019 to 50% in 2022 (as I wrote here: ft.com/content/75891d…) Image
The popularity of iPhone for Gen Z is a massive step-change.

The @Apple/@Samsung split is reasonably even for older generations, but shifts to 83% vs 10% for Gen Z, according to 451 Research (S&P).

Wider survey from Piper Sandler is even more stark: 87% of teens own an iPhone. ImageImage
Read 10 tweets
Jan 25, 2023
New story *thread*: Apple is taking steps to “decouple” from Alphabet, setting iOS on a course that would cut its alliance with Google Search, Google Maps, and the broader digital advertising world that CEO Tim Cook has called a “data-industrial complex built on surveillance.”
The iPhone maker has held an abiding grudge against the search giant ever since its Android operating system mimicked iOS in the late 2000s. Steve Jobs called Android “a stolen product,” declared “thermonuclear war,” and ousted Google’s then-CEO Eric Schmidt from the Apple board
The noise has died down considerably in the last 13 years, but behind the scenes Apple is still engaged in a “silent war”, say former employees.

The 3-front battle is in Maps, Search, and Advertising.
Read 5 tweets
Jan 18, 2023
Another thread on my @FT series covering Apple’s China problem.

Disruptions from Zero-Covid at “iPhone City” are temporary. Far more significant is how the protests reminded the world that Apple increasingly finds itself beholden to America’s biggest geopolitical rival.

1/6
When Tim Cook was doorstepped by a reporter asking questions about China, he kept silent and changed direction. “It was the worst 45 seconds of Cook’s career.”

Many observers think Cook’s silence reflects how Apple’s reliance on China is its its biggest vulnerability

2/6
The operations that Apple orchestrates in China are so complex and massive — including factory hubs the size of western cities — that it is not clear it has any viable options beyond China to overhaul the way it rolls out $316bn worth of iGadgets each year.

3/6
Read 8 tweets
Jan 17, 2023
Quick thread on my two-part @FT series covering Apple’s biggest conundrum: its China problem.

Apple manufacturers +95% of iPhones, AirPods, Macs and iPads in the country, which under Xi Jinping is increasingly authoritarian and estranged from the west.

1/6
Hardware-software integration has been critical to Apple since its founding, so when PC makers began outsourcing to Asia 40 years ago, Apple did not. But in the mid-90s Apple was nearing bankruptcy…

2/6
Tim Cook, brought in to run worldwide operations, found a hybrid solution: iGadgets would be made in China, but Apple would maintain obsessive control over the machinery, processes, and ingenuity associated with its manufacturing.

3/6
Read 6 tweets
Sep 5, 2022
How’s this for a chart?

@Apple’s digital ads business is forecast to rise from ~$1bn in 2020 to ~$30bn by 2026. Via @EvercoreISI

From new scoop: Apple plans to double its digital advertising business workforce enterprise-sharing.ft.com/redeem/106d803…

*Thread here*
Apple plans to ~double its “Ad Platforms” workforce 17 months after it introduced sweeping privacy changes that hobbled @Meta @Snapchat @Twitter

Ad team is ~250ppl, per @linkedin.
On Apple’s careers website, it’s looking to fill 216 such roles, 4X the number in late 2020
Apple’s long-term ambitions are secret, but job ads lay out plans pretty clearly:

An ad for an engineering leader from Aug 24 describes how it wants to “build the most privacy-forward, technologically sophisticated . . . Supply (Marketplace) Platform and Demand Side Platform”.
Read 7 tweets

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