Apple's Phil Schiller Takes the Stand in Epic Games v. Apple Trial

Today marked the kickoff of the third week of the Epic Games v. Apple trial, and this week is notable because Epic has finished with its witnesses and we're now transitioning to Apple witnesses, including notable Apple executives.

fortnite apple featured
Apple Fellow and former marketing chief Phil Schiller, who is in charge of the App Store, took the stand today. Schiller will testify for up to nine hours, and will see the most questioning out of all of Apple's witnesses.

Schiller's hours of commentary will see him explaining just how the ‌App Store‌ works, the value of the ‌App Store‌ and Apple's SDKs, and why it's important that the judge side with Apple to maintain security and privacy for customers.

Questioning today started with the history of the iPhone, where Schiller made sure to say that security and privacy were the "most important" considerations when developing the ‌iPhone‌. "This new computing device in your pocket means it's capable of new things," he said. "It's going to store information around our lives that we aren't used to having in our pocket."

Schiller covered how the ‌App Store‌ was set up from the beginning. The ‌iPhone‌'s software is "part of the product" that Apple creates, which is very different from Android, which is licensed to device makers. This licensing model "reduces quality" and the "speed of innovation," Schiller said in defense of Apple's setup.

Early questioning covered the transition from Apple-only apps on ‌iPhone‌ to third-party app support, and the security and privacy risks that Apple had to contend with. After the launch of the ‌iPhone‌, Apple heard from developers that they wanted to create native apps, which Apple viewed as the first "demand for quality and security" on ‌iPhone‌.

Apple has always been concerned about jailbroken apps and rogue app developers creating content without documented APIs, which could lead to "unreliable, unstable devices." He pointed out the importance of protecting users from malware to keep devices functioning. "This is your phone in your pocket that needs to work reliably," he said.

Schiller has also been speaking about Apple's ‌App Store‌ policy to treat developers large and small the same, and his testimony has included some interesting little tidbits. Apple wanted to charge $99 for the ‌App Store‌ developer program to prove that an app that's being worked on is "important" and that developers are "serious about making a quality app."

Notably, Schiller said that it costs Apple $50 million for every Worldwide Developers Conference event that it puts on annually, which was used as evidence that Apple's ‌App Store‌ profit margins are not as high as ‌Epic Games‌ has implied.

Schiller also said that 17 percent of the hundreds of thousands of games on the ‌App Store‌ use the freemium model, which was another interesting tidibt that was shared. 75 percent of games are free to download, and six percent require a payment.

On the topic of physical goods, Schiller said that in 2019, the ‌App Store‌ drove $400 billion+ in transactions like food delivery, Amazon purchases, Uber, and more, which are not subject to a 30 percent cut. According to Schiller, Apple does not take a cut of physical purchases because Apple can't guarantee they will actually arrive.

We'll undoubtedly hear additional interesting details from Schiller as his testimony continues, and later this week or early next week Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to take the stand.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
A18 Pro Chip

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options that include silver, blue, pink, and yellow. MacRumors...
iPhone Car Key WWDC 2025

Apple Announces 13 Automakers Planning to Offer iPhone Car Keys

Friday June 27, 2025 11:42 am PDT by
In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further. During its WWDC 2025 keynote, Apple said that 13...
maxresdefault

Five Features Coming to AirPods Pro 3

Friday June 27, 2025 10:52 am PDT by
Apple hasn't updated the AirPods Pro since 2022, and the earbuds are due for a refresh. We're counting on a new model this year, and we've seen several hints of new AirPods tucked away in Apple's code. Rumors suggest that Apple has some exciting new features planned that will make it worthwhile to upgrade to the latest model. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Heal...
macbook air spacegray purple

Apple Planning to Launch Low-Cost MacBook Powered By iPhone Chip

Monday June 30, 2025 3:20 am PDT by
Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In an article published on X, Kuo explained that the device will feature a 13-inch display and the A18 Pro chip, making it the first Mac powered by an iPhone chip. The A18 Pro chip debuted in the iPhone 16 Pro last year. To date, all Apple silicon Macs have contained M-series...
anker power bank recall

PSA: Anker Recalls Multiple Power Banks Due to Fire Risk

Friday June 27, 2025 4:16 pm PDT by
Popular accessory maker Anker this month launched two separate recalls for its power banks, some of which may be a fire risk. The first recall affects Anker PowerCore 10000 Power Banks sold between June 1, 2016 and December 31, 2022 in the United States. Anker says that these power banks have a "potential issue" with the battery inside, which can lead to overheating, melting of plastic...
Chase Sapphire Reserve Apple Perk Feature

Chase Sapphire Reserve Card Introduces New Perk for Apple Customers

Wednesday June 25, 2025 2:08 pm PDT by
Chase this week announced a series of new perks for its premium Sapphire Reserve credit card, and one of them is for a pair of Apple services. Specifically, the credit card now offers complimentary annual subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music, a value of up to $250 per year. If you are already paying for Apple TV+ and/or Apple Music directly through Apple, those subscriptions will...
replay all time playlist apple music

Apple Music Debuts All-New Personalized Playlist

Monday June 30, 2025 7:16 am PDT by
As part of its 10-year celebrations of Apple Music, Apple today released an all-new personalized playlist that collates your entire listening history. The playlist, called "Replay All Time," expands on Apple Music's existing Replay features. Previously, users could only see their top songs for each individual calendar year that they've been subscribed to Apple Music, but now, Replay All...

Top Rated Comments

jom3500 Avatar
54 months ago

How does it cost $50m to run WWDC. Some creative accounting going on there.
I was one of many people responsible for organizing the annual general meeting for Siemens in Germany which lasts around 5-8h (1d). We spent over 4 Mio. € every year for this small event. You have no idea what things you have to plan and take into consideration. It‘s really not that easy
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NMBob Avatar
54 months ago

Given the interest in this case they could at least provide a better sound quality feed.
The court doesn't support lossless audio, either.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
haydn! Avatar
54 months ago
Everyone trying to figure out where that $50m is going, and only focusing on Apple people costs? You're all missing some pretty hefty lines off that invoice!


* Entire venue hire (probably best part of 2-3 weeks solid for setup, event, tear down)
* AV set-up and crew, not just for the main keynote, but all those breakout sessions too. Most large venues come as an empty shell. You have to hire everything from carpets to cabling, as well as your lighting, staging and screens...
* Physical environment - Apple brand the sh*t out of that venue. Those full glass building wraps they've done won't come cheap.
* Keynote production - intro videos, product videos, etc, etc
* Keynote streaming/broadcasting - Apple will be having to hire and dedicate some pretty big resources to simultaneously broadcast WWDC live around the world. Quite possibly involving hiring saterlite or two.
* Breakout session recording and editing - over 100 seperate seminars filmed, edited, etc
* Catering for several thousand people for 5 event days and multiple set-up/tear down days.
* All the merch and promo callateral they'll be handing out.
* And so much more!

An event of this scale, I can see it totalling up pretty big in the end. But just because it 'costs' $50million, doesn't mean that's the bottom line as Apple will be covering some of that with the ticket sales.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
twintin Avatar
54 months ago

$50mil for a week event?
It's probably not just the week event, but also lot of preparation prior that event.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GSWForever8 Avatar
54 months ago
Wow. These developers are so greedy. After all, they need money to improve Xcode and other things like that, as well as maintaining the App Store. 30% is nothing compared to traditional stores. Dang, Epic and other companies just want money, that's all.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ArPe Avatar
54 months ago

There’s no way it costs $50 MILLION to put on a developers conference. Apple could rent out the whole convention center for a month for that much $$$. It’s also driving distance from Apple campus so it’s not like they’re flying their engineers in from halfway across the world.
$50 million includes the cost of preparing for ONE YEAR. Prepping, redecorating, presentations, employees, media production, event space, travel plans for guests, etc etc etc etc
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)