Image: Linseed Studio / Roman / Protocol
Microsoft and Google, a love story

Good morning! This Wednesday, Apple strikes back at Epic (again), how Microsoft and Google teamed up to change the phone game, and Tesla's week got off to a rough start.
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Friends, I won't lie to you: I am loving the increasingly public, increasingly testy spat between Apple and Epic. It kicked up yet another notch Tuesday, with a filing from Apple asking for damages from Epic.
Apple uses Epic's own moves against it in its counterclaim. "In 2018, Fortnite announced that Android versions of the game would be available on the web, and immediately sites appeared that not only advertised Android Fortnite but also distributed malware in the game."
Apple may not be picking a fight with just one developer here: It may risk inadvertently picking a fight with all of them. Marco Arment put it well, writing that "dev relations are at an all-time low as [Apple] continue[s] to make statements to the effect of 'Developers' only value to our platform is IAP commissions.'" Apple shouldn't forget, he said, that great third-party apps are a heck of a good reason to buy an iPhone.
This is why this Epic-Apple case is so interesting to me. Partly because, come on, the drama, but also because this is a whole reckoning on the software ecosystem in one fell swoop. Apple and Epic can yell until they're blue in the face and their lawyers are billionaires, but at some point something's going to give. And an awful lot of developers are waiting to know where they stand.
Mark your calendars: The full hearing for this case is Sept. 28, and it's going to be something.
Microsoft's new not-quite-a-phone, the Surface Duo, comes out tomorrow. But more interesting than the device is the way Microsoft and Google spent the last couple of years working together to build it. It started with two people: Panos Panay, the chief product officer at Microsoft, and Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google's head of Android, Chrome OS, Chrome and a bunch of other things.
I wrote about Lockheimer and Panay's relationship on Protocol and what they learned from building the Surface Duo. The most important thing, they said, was to always think about the finished product.
It's fascinating to see this kind of collaboration in the current Big Tech era, where a small number of companies seem to dominate everything. One source told me that Microsoft in particular has worked hard to repair relationships with Google and Apple, a good example of which is its increasing presence in their app stores.
But whether it's Google and Apple working together on COVID tech or Microsoft and Google building smartphones, we're in what you might call a Frenemy Phase of technology. The opportunities are so big — and the stakes are so high — that even the largest companies are willing to partner up. At least a little. Sometimes.
The tech industry as a whole seems to be in the midst of a serious stock-market reset after the crazy rise of the last few weeks. But Tesla's having it worse than most: Its stock had its worst day ever yesterday, down more than 21%. It seemed to be the result of two bits of bad news:
Don't forget, Tesla's stock is still up almost 4x this year. But with Lucid Motors set to reveal a car at 4 p.m. PT Wednesday, with longer range than any Tesla, and Tesla's Battery Day scheduled for Sept. 22, this month looks set to be an interesting test of whether Tesla can stay ahead in the electric-car game.
Join us tomorrow at 9 a.m. PT for a deep-dive conversation on the state of the cloud. Tom Krazit will explore how best practices for cloud computing are evolving during an unprecedented economic period, featuring PagerDuty CEO Jennifer Tejada, Okta CIO Alvina Antar and Novant Health CDTO Angela Yochem. This event is presented by Pure Storage.
Ashok Chandwaney quit Facebook on Tuesday and said it's because the company no longer lives its values:
The FBI (and everyone else) underestimated how important social media was until it was too late, Peter Strzok said:
Want your boardroom to be more diverse? Change what you're looking for, said former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns:
So far, there's no evidence that anyone's hacked American vote-counting systems, said CISA director Chris Krebs:
Chad Fentress is leaving SoftBank. He was the company's chief compliance officer. He's also leaving WeWork's board, where he will be replaced by former Sprint CEO Michel Combes. No word yet on who will replace him at SoftBank to take over the truly great job title of "SoftBank chief compliance officer."
Bela Barajia is Netflix's new vice president of global TV. She had been overseeing the company's local-language originals around the world and now moves up as Cindy Holland leaves the company.
Mayur Gupta is Gannett's new chief marketing and strategy officer. He joins from Spotify, and is tasked with attracting digital subscribers to the huge and struggling newspaper chain.
You know what's cooler than owning a Peloton? Owning a new Peloton! The company's new model has a bigger, rotating screen for glare-haters and non-bikers, and has better speakers so your Broadway Hits ride can get its full due. Best of all, it doesn't launch until next year, so now I have a perfect excuse to not work out again until 2021.
Join us tomorrow at 9 a.m. PT for a deep-dive conversation on the state of the cloud. Tom Krazit will explore how best practices for cloud computing are evolving during an unprecedented economic period, featuring PagerDuty CEO Jennifer Tejada, Okta CIO Alvina Antar and Novant Health CDTO Angela Yochem. This event is presented by Pure Storage.
Today's Source Code was written by David Pierce, with help from Shakeel Hashim. Thoughts, questions, tips? Send them to david@protocol.com, or our tips line, tips@protocol.com. Enjoy your day, see you tomorrow.
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