Apple has been Big Brother for a long time. Epic has the smarts to fight back in the courts *and* the court of public opinion
Regulators will start to bite the Apple unless Cupertino cuts the bullying tactics and starts to play nice with its platform.
Epic Games, makers of Fortnite, are marketing geniuses. Not only does it know how to fight battles in this world — the three-dimensional meat-driven hell space we live in — but it also can turn the world of Fortnite into a place where it delivers messages. The latest, a parody of Apple’s iconic 1984 ad which launched the first Mac, is one front in a legal battle that is heating up with Apple after the company kicked Fortnite out of the App Store.
Apple launched its attack on Fortnite because Epic used its own payment system in the app. Epic took that move as a direct provocation. It knew Apple would react this way and has now got the fight it wanted. Now it can go to court and the court of public opinion in an attempt to force Apple into changing the App Store rules.
Apple is not serving its customers with the way it runs the App Store platform. The only reason for nobbling Netflix’s ability to sign up new users directly from its iOS app, Amazon’s chance to sell ebooks straight from the Kindle app, and Microsoft’s chance to bring its gaming platform to Apple users is to protect its control and ability to prejudice its own services. There is no defence on the grounds of protecting users. All Apple is currently protecting its loyal userbase from is convenience.
While Amazon has done quid pro quo deals with Apple to get things a little more to its liking — one monopoly-minded company scratching the back of another — Epic is going to war with Cupertino. It’s a smarter move.
Despite being richer than god, Epic gets to look like the underdog and it can attack on multiple fronts — through media (both earned and paid-for) and with legal action — to secure a fair shake in the App Store. Fans jonesing for Fortnite will also be mobilised as a force to pressure Apple to change its policy. Then the regulators won’t be able to resist getting involved. Apple is a big scalp.
The Fortnite maker may, at first, appear to have less firepower than Apple, it knows how to fight a guerilla campaign. I’m betting on Epic in this fight.