Today, I am sitting in the courtroom that may decide the fate of Android. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney is here. Google Android boss Sameer Samat is here. Together, they’ll try to convince Judge James Donato that they’re no longer enemies — that Google’s illegal monopoly on Android app stores can be resolved with a mutual settlement instead of the consequences the judge had ordered. And I’ll be posting anything interesting I hear live in this Verge StoryStream.
Now, Epic and Google are giving Judge Donato two different options. If he approves the settlement as-is, Google will agree to reduce its app store fees globally, not just in the United States, making app development a better job prospect around the world, and create a Registered App Stores program where rival app stores could make it onto Android without gobs of friction — but where those stores might still be under Google’s thumb and have to pay complicated fees.
If Donato doesn’t, Google seems to be threatening an alternative that app makers and the court may like a whole lot less: if developers want to avoid Google’s payment systems, they must immediately enroll in rigid new Google programs where they pay Google multiple dollars per app download in exchange for only slightly lower app store fees.
But Donato was publicly skeptical of the settlement, and that Google and Epic are “suddenly BFFs,” Law360’s Bonnie Eslinger reported in November. So now, he’s hauled the “lead negotiators” of the settlement into court to explain further. That’s Epic CEO Tim Sweeney himself, Google’s Android boss Sameer Samat, Epic’s expert witness in economics (and Stanford professor) Doug Bernheim, and Google regulatory affairs director Lara Kollios.
Don’t watch this specific post for updates: instead, click through to our StoryStream. It’s not likely the judge will approve the settlement today, but who knows!