Judge Gonzalez Rogers noted that the proceedings are over whether Apple failed to comply with her order, and she has been told by Apple executives that much of the decision-making was not done in writing.
“So now you all don’t write things down anymore, and I need to understand what it was people were thinking and how you got to a 27% charge from a 30% charge that had been found to be anticompetitive,” she said. “So, am I now clear?”
“Very clear, Your Honor,” Perry replied.
After the discussion on document production and potential redactions, Epic called to the stand Benjamin Simon, who is CEO and founder of the yoga app Down Dog, which has about 500,000 subscribers. Simon had testified during the 2021 bench trial that he feared Apple would retaliate against him for his testimony, even as he ripped into the App Store’s payment policies, calling them inconsistent and unfair to consumers and developers.
On Friday, Simon testified that Apple’s new fees and restrictions have caused confusion among consumers, and hundreds of customers have complained to his company about its practice of charging more for in-app subscriptions, which are higher due to Apple’s commissions, as opposed to out-of-app subscriptions paid for on its website.
