Apple CEO Tim Cook says fight against Epic has become issue of "principle" over money

fight between Apple and Epic Games over the App Store has become an fight over "principle" rather than the money involved, the head of Apple said. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that when Apple created the App Store, it wanted to have control over the app ecosystem, which he described as putting the fight with Epic into a "different category". Apple is suing Epic for putting loot boxes back into Fortnite, but the courts have blocked Epic from placing the boxes in the game. Apple launched the App Store in 2008, and since then it has become the largest mobile app store in the world. The App Store is how developers acquire their applications, and it is also where users buy the applications. Apple engineers screen every single app before it is allowed into the store, which has helped keep malware and other malicious software out of the ecosystem. "I'm not sure I could put a number on it," Cook said. "In terms of revenue share, I'm not sure what the number is, but you can easily see that the App Store would run itself on that basis." This week, an examination of internal Apple documents revealed that the App Store was extremely profitable. A survey on the store found that 84% of the App Store's revenue came from just 1% of its applications. Cook also said that Epic CEO Tim Sweeney spoke to him, asking if it were possible for Fortnite to be allowed back in the App Store. "I didn't have an issue with him coming back. He didn't have an issue with him coming back. He didn't want to pay the 30% commission," Cook said. "I don't know how it really works."