Lockheimer just became the first Googler to pull out a phone on the stand — two of them, a Samsung Z Flip and a Pixel Fold. No sideloading walkthrough, I’m afraid; they were a simple example of how Google is attempting to innovate on Android to compete with Apple.
Hey, Hiroshi: those phones belong to the judge now. Sorry, I don’t make the rules!
Anywhere from 4 to 10 percent of users are switching from Android to iOS in a given year, Google lead attorney Glenn Pomerantz is suggesting.
In recent years, Google has been campaigning against Apple’s iMessage lock-in to try to regain those youth. Not that iMessage lock-in is a new issue or anything.
Unlike Sundar, he’s been a relatively defensive, non-committal witness on the stand. But he’s getting the same treatment to begin: where did you go to college, how did you join Google, what is Google’s mission, etc.
It’s a nice palate cleanser. And we’re on to a new narrative from Google with Lockheimer’s help: that it was struggling (not merely competing) against the iPhone.
Lockheimer, too, didn’t turn on his chat history to preserve evidence, it seems. Epic says his lawyers told them he never took any steps to preserve chats. As with many things, Lockheimer said he wasn’t aware.
We do have one chat between Lockheimer and former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, though, where they talk about how YouTube is being forced into Google Play Billing while “Spotify is our competitor who is being exempted,” according to Wojcicki.
Lockheimer is now Google’s witness.
Lockheimer said no, it wasn’t Google’s plan to tip off the press about the bug in 2018.
But his email suggests otherwise:
1. Ed needs to update the thread (ideally today) to notify Epic that we are going to make the bug public tomorrow now that it’s been 7 days since they fixed it.
2. Bug goes live tomorrow morning 9am PT
3. We tip off press about the bug and share our reactive statement and background points.
“We shared the bug with Android Central and worked with them today to shape a piece,” Google spokesperson Shannon Newberry replied later. “Great headline and conveys the points we wanted to convey.”
“Well done! Thank you,” replied Lockheimer.
They see opportunity to express frustration closed ecosystems through use of sideloading on Android to distribute via their website, threatening Play revenue ($130M directly) and broader business model.
and
High risk of contagion: Tencent is an investor in Epic and in other major game developers, and will have visibility into this deal; high risk that other games seek other distribution channels as well (up to $310M in revenue at risk)
Epic’s lead attorney is pointing out that if Google was willing to spend $147M on Epic to protect against $130M worth of damage, there must have been something deeper at stake — the “contagion.” Lockheimer isn’t answering that directly. He’s being a very argumentative witness and, in fact, just got told off by the judge.
Lockheimer has just been asked about that time Google went to its Business Council (anybody got bingo yet?) to try to get approval to offer Epic a big $147M deal to get Fortnite on the Play Store rather than launching elsewhere.
He says yes, you have to go to the Business Council for certain kinds of expenditures.
And Lockheimer was listed atop the stack of seven “Deal Representatives” who pitched the Business Council on this deal.
While Android boss Hiroshi Lockheimer has already admitted he thinks of Samsung as both a partner and competitor, Epic is now pursuing the handshake deal angle it alluded to the other day in court.
For example: Lockheimer emailed Samsung Mobile president DJ Koh on July 11th, 2014, to say he was “surprised” that Samsung went ahead with a big Galaxy Store rebrand without his knowledge (technically, that one was called Galaxy Apps).
Koh was then cc’d on an email back to Lockheimer explaining away the change:
We definitely don’t want to compete with Play Store, but we had to make some changes to it to provide Samsung customers with better value. So they (folks at MSC) decided to re-brand the store to Galaxy Apps and this new store will only have a few hundreds apps.
Lockheimer says he was surprised simply because he’d just been in Korea to meet with Samsung, and it didn’t mention Galaxy Apps.
He also agreed that he sometimes texted DJ Koh on the side as part of the business relationship.
“That Android Open Source Project is not being used by any Android smartphone in the United States today, right?”
Lockheimer won’t go that far. He says he doesn’t know. But he also says he can’t name a single phone that only uses AOSP without also bundling GMS (Google Mobile Services) apps on top — which requires signing a MADA contract with Google.
(When it’s Google’s turn, Lockheimer might get to explain that Google’s long used contracts to prevent Android fragmentation, giving users a better chance of getting their phone updated.)
“GMS is a highly sought after set of products, and it brings OEMs to the negotiating table. If we put all GMS in market, there’s less incentive for OEMs to negotiate for GMS,” Lockheimer wrote in a 2011 email.
While it is sadly not on our bingo cards, the Android Open Source Project is indeed one of Google’s regular defenses in this case — Google, including CEO Sundar Pichai, have explained that anyone can go build an Android phone if they don’t like Google’s practices or apps because Google makes the core software available for free.
Now, Epic is quizzing Android chief Hiroshi Lockheimer about it. If you’ve been following my dispatches from the trial, you probably know what’s coming next. (Epic will try to show that AOSP isn’t enough to make a phone viable.)