Apple Building a Search Engine? Probably Not.

[MacRumors]

TechCrunch suggests and then dismisses the possibility that Apple may be building a search engine.

According to the site, they had heard some reports that Apple might be working on a search engine, but thus far the evidence does not seem to pan out:

But one important fact that isn’t checking out - if Apple were building a search engine, they’d be hiring search experts and engineers. We’ve talked to a ton of them at all the big companies, and while some of them heard the same rumors, none have lost search employees to Apple, or heard of any specific hirings.

TechCrunch speculates that the rumors may simply be a product of Apple building a better mobile search interface without reinventing the entire search engine.


Article Link: Apple Building a Search Engine? Probably Not.

 

[millar876]

Not that surprised realy, they seem to have a good relationship with Google and one of the best integrated searches i've seen (in safari)

 

[sammich]

Step 1: Make up a rumor without much evidence
Step 2: Write up an article regarding this said rumor
Step 3: Debunk your own rumor. Credibility intact, site traffic increased slightly

😀

 

[xUKHCx]

Not that surprised realy, they seem to have a good relationship with Google and one of the best integrated searches i've seen (in safari)

It really isn't better than other browsers with integreated searches such as Opera, Firefox, camino etc. In fact the way Safari doesn't search google/other specified search provider from the address bar makes it worse.


It could also be applied to other things such as iTunes store becuase I find that search to be pretty poor. If they improve the searching there they improve the potential revenue.

 

[illitrate23]

Step 1: Make up a rumor without much evidence
Step 2: Write up an article regarding this said rumor
Step 3: Debunk your own rumor. Credibility intact, site traffic increased slightly

😀

i was going to say something along the same lines
must be a slow news day at TechCrunch

 

[Shasterball]

Step 1: Make up a rumor without much evidence
Step 2: Write up an article regarding this said rumor
Step 3: Debunk your own rumor. Credibility intact, site traffic increased slightly

😀

They also broke the story that Apple was building a space shuttle. And then they debunked it.

 

[brasscat]

I heard Apple is coming out with a FREE unibody laptop.
Apple says that's NOT true.
Let's write about that.
Let's write about what I just wrote about.
NEWS!

 

[kolax]

Google is the king of searches. I'd see no reason for Apple to compete with the search engine giant - it is free to search. It wouldn't benefit anyone, unless Apple made profit on ads, which they avoid.

 

[edesignuk]

Attempting to build something to compete with Google would be a great way of burning through all their cash reserves and still winding up a distant 2nd/3rd/4th/etc.

Universally stupid.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Now where are these elevator search engine unboxing photos? This has to be the lamest, least credible rumour since somebody got it into their head that Apple would be building a gaming console... 🙄

It really isn't better than other browsers with integreated searches such as Opera, Firefox, camino etc. In fact the way Safari doesn't search google/other specified search provider from the address bar makes it worse.

Maybe not for you... 😉

 

[xUKHCx]

Attempting to build something to compete with Google would be a great way of burning through all their cash reserves and still winding up a distant 2nd/3rd/4th/etc.

Universally stupid.

Indeed look at the money Microsoft tried tossing ($44.6B) around to get a jump on this market. Doing it from scratch at this stage in the game is just silly.

Maybe not for you... 😉

Back when I was a Safari user I had Sogudi installed. However seeing as it is not Leopard ready and is an addon you have to install it is fair to say that most Safari users are not going to be using this. It really is not the same as some of those browsers listed.

 

[DMann]

Once ZFS is implemented in Snow Leopard, system-wide search will improve dramatically.

 

[sfh]

slow news day i guess

 

[nagromme]

iPhone Google search results could certainly use an iPhone-specific interface. They do the job, but images especially are a pain--the link to change to image search is tucked in the corner, and then the results are formatted in a wide rather than tall array. Google has their own iPhone app for searching already, and maybe Apple would like to integrate something similar into mobile Safari (and for Yahoo too).

 

[iOrlando]

Reminder:

GOOG CEO is on Apple's Board.


Thank you

Rumor is Dead

 

[gmeddles]

They at least got the second part correct about nobody losing large numbers of search experts to Apple. Back about 3 years ago when MSFT was throwing cash at anyone with search experience, I had more friends than I would like to admit switch to the dark side. Now? Not a peep about anyone moving to the old four-phase grounds.

The only thing I hear from my search-geek friends is about people leaving Mt. View to do there own thing, and that they're looking for help. Google is now king of ad-targeting and hasn't been as innovative in search for a while. They've gone like the Yahoo's, Lycos's, Alta Vistas and others before them back to the early 90's, where they'd rather portal-ize and data mine than get better.

 

[elppa]

It really isn't better than other browsers with integreated searches such as Opera, Firefox, camino etc. In fact the way Safari doesn't search google/other specified search provider from the address bar makes it worse.


It could also be applied to other things such as iTunes store becuase I find that search to be pretty poor. If they improve the searching there they improve the potential revenue.

Where's the sense in that?

It would take resources away from the genius sidebar which everyone switches off immediately. 🙄

 

[elppa]

Once ZFS is implemented in Snow Leopard, system-wide search will improve dramatically.

Actually it won't, the FS will have very little baring at all.

System wide search in OS X Leopard out of the box with spotlight is better than any other OS out there.

 

[funnyent]

apple is a great partner with google. they are not going to try to do anything stupid like making their own search engine, because they already use google. there would be no need to.

 

[macFan3000]

Google search integrated into spotlight?

 

[Savernake]

Actually, this is what they probably meant. Think Inquisitor but done by Apple. It's very fast, very nice for a web app. I hope they roll this into Safari.

 

[elppa]

Actually, this is what they probably meant. Think Inquisitor but done by Apple. It's very fast, very nice for a web app. I hope they roll this into Safari.

This has been in place since WWDC 2007.

 

[Savernake]

Fair enough, I only noticed it today. Seemed to coincidental not to be true to me!

 

[MikeELL]

These guys gave it a decent shot but they've not made much of a dent in the market yet. I like the interface though.

http://www.cuil.com/

 

[Saladinos]

It's possible. Google isn't very aggressive with their business. They've never had to be. They wouldn't completely stop working with Apple because of it. Google doesn't appear to have making money as its top priority. Still, it's something they do easily.

Even Android wasn't meant to compete with the iPhone. It was meant to destroy Windows Mobile. If Windows Mobile went open source, it's possible/probable that Android would never have existed. Google just want to make sure people can access their services. On the desktop, that means donating millions of dollars a year to keep the Mozilla project afloat, and working on your own browser (because we all know how much Microsoft loves to break the internet, don't we Netscape?).

On mobile devices, that means partnering with Apple and creating apps for the iPhone, but then what to do about the rest of the market? The only potential problem is Microsoft, so Google set out to replace Windows Mobile with a free and open platform that anybody could have access to.

Google seem to really care that people can access their services. They make money from ads, but you don't see any of those using Gmail on IMAP or Maps. Making money isn't the goal.

MobileMe showed everyone (in particular Steve Jobs) that Apple isn't ready for web services. There are two responses: either they back down, or they start another "hobby" project to try gain some web services experience. That said, I still don't see the search engine coming. Just because there aren't many reasons not to, doesn't mean they should.