Google's defeat in its antitrust battle with Epic Games was a sweeping victory for the Fortnite maker and a significant upset to the business model underpinning the mobile app ecosystem, where platforms host app stores and then take a cut of developer revenues. But what does the ruling actually mean, at least in the near term, for app developers? That's something that remains to be seen, as the case isn't over until a judge renders a decision as to what, specifically, Google's penalty should be.
A San Francisco jury on Monday swiftly returned a verdict in Epic's favor in a matter of hours -- not days or weeks -- finding that Google "willfully acquired or maintained monopoly power by engaging in anticompetitive conduct," as a court filing states. But while the jury determined the liability in the case, it's still up to the judge to decide what the remedy will be. That means the two parties will still get to plead their cases to the court later in January with the hope of shaping exactly how Google will need to adjust its operations to make up for its anticompetitive behavior.
More than likely, Google won't roll out any significant changes to its Google Play Store until the judge makes this final decision as to what, exactly, needs to be done. If it did so voluntarily before the decision, it would only complicate matters further if the judge then ruled that other actions needed to be taken.
