Open Source: An Epic showdown with Apple resumes
Hi all! My name is Brian Gordon, and I write on tech for The News & Observer. In this week’s Open Source newsletter, I talk about unicorns and state economic incentives. Dynamic pairing.
But first, Epic Games is squaring off against Apple once again in a highly anticipated courtroom showdown.
Epic’s epic lawsuit
Next week in a California courtroom, Cary’s Epic Games will resume its two-year fight with the world’s richest tech company. That would be Apple, which Epic has accused of operating an illegal monopoly via its App Store. Apple thinks otherwise.
Both sides hope the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will reverse aspects of last year’s district court ruling. At stake is how people access phone apps — and how much they cost.
“Epic versus Apple is what I’ve previously called the Superbowl of antitrust,” said Florian Ederer, an associate professor of economics at the Yale School of Management. “Probably one of the biggest antitrust cases we’ve seen since the case against Microsoft in the 1990s.”
Those big job announcements only tell one story...
This week, I looked at the past performance of North Carolina main economic incentive program, the job development investment grant called JDIG. It’s the economic engine behind major headlines like “Apple to bring 3,000 jobs” and “Toyota to invest $1.3 billion.”
I found most JDIG recipients historically never reach their job or investment commitments.
In 2005, for example, 10 of the 11 companies that entered grant agreements never reached their minimum job and investment promises. In 2011, 16 recipient businesses eventually left early, one completed, and five remain active.
The state points out that incentives are tied to payroll tax breaks, meaning the funding companies receive is proportional to the number of new jobs they create. Still, all this is good to keep in mind the next time a headline trumpets the arrival new jobs in the state.
Five wealthy unicorns
In business, a unicorn is a private startup that achieves a valuation of more than $1 billion. North Carolina now has five of them. Epic Games (hey, remember them from the top of this newsletter?) leads the way while the state’s newest unicorn is a cybersecurity firm in Morrisville.
Short stuff: Data dives
The North Carolina Tech Association, an industry group for the state’s tech sector, released its 2022 national rankings of the strongest tech hubs. Durham-Chapel Hill came in at No. 6 while Raleigh-Cary slotted close behind at No. 8.
Pitchbook released its third-quarter data on venture capital deals, which showed Raleigh-Cary saw 24 VC deals completed for a total of $173.6 million over the past three months and Durham seeing 24 deals completed for a total of $395 million.
National Tech Happenings:
Delta bets $60 million on flying taxi rides to and from the airport.
Federal Trade Commission officials trade more stocks and bonds than officials at other major agencies, the Wall Street Journal found. “Many of the investments overlapped with the FTC’s work.”
Intel is the latest tech giant to announce layoffs as economic uncertainty swirl. Some departments could be cut by 20%, Bloomberg reports.
Podcast pick of the week:
Want to learn more about the Apple and Epic tussle? Here’s a breakdown of last year’s district court ruling and what it means for iPhone app users, from The Verge.
Thanks for reading and enjoy an awesome fall weekend.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
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