Apple Deal Responsible for Google's Dominance in Search, Says Microsoft CEO

[DownUnderDan]

I use DuckDuckGo. Have for years as my default search engine. I literally never use Google and certainly don’t use Bing, though the OpenAI is pretty neat from the little exposure I’ve had to it watching friend’s at work use it.

Bing is one of the search engines Duck Duck Go uses, so indirectly you do use Bing regularly.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

MS should also be questioning the default search engine on all those Android phones, too.

Why? He isn’t expressing his opinion, but answering legal questions as a representative of Microsoft

Somehow I just KNEW this would eventually be blamed on Apple. Microsoft sucks the big one.

Apple wasn’t blamed

 

[ZZ9pluralZalpha]

“It’s unfair that Google has a deal to install their overwhelmingly dominant service as default on a manufacturer’s devices,” says the CEO of a company which specializes in deals to install their overwhelmingly dominant (and utter trash) desktop OS on several manufacturers’ devices

 

[Chuckeee]

you have wheels on your Toyota Corolla, so one day you could use them as the backbone to make a competitive formula one racing car.

Why not

 

[federico0212]

Setting Google as the default search engine had the same effect as pre-installing Microsoft Explorer on Windows. If anyone knows how powerful that default setup is, it's Microsoft. I lean Microsoft on this one even though they have been a bad actor in the past.

Whether it was an antitrust violation for Apple and Google to agree....that requires info we do not have. That being said, those two companies have a history of entering into anticompetitive agreements (e.g., their non-poaching agreements).

That very example solidifies how I feel. Despite being the default and however powerful it initially was, everyone moved on to superior products. So few people use IE or Edge now, despite being the default, because there are superior products.

Today, few are changing their default search engine because there just isn’t a better one. Bing is just a crappier google. No differentiating factor. Not privacy focused like Duck. And that’s a smaller market anyway.

 

[rp2011]

The Spotify CEO has a valid point, but Microsoft not so much. You cannot cry foul for the very things that made Microsoft what it is today.

 

[JosephAW]

The first step after downloading a browser is change the search engine from google.

 

[mjs916]

Wasn’t Bing the default for Siri at some point?

I was a diehard Windows Phone guy… I did my part lol, but Bing just wasn’t as good then. I still use it alongside DuckDuckGo (which I assume uses Bing) and I find that Google, when I use it, only does “better” (this is subjective) every once in awhile, but I’d blame people and bad habits (which I suppose he did) before blaming Apple/Google deal. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Bing WAS the default search for Siri some years ago.

 

[mjs916]

The first step after downloading a browser is change the search engine from google.

That’s what I do!

 

[MacLawyer]

I disagree with this. Google had the head start and integrates with its maps, etc.

 

[ijordano]

Sounds like Bing is sad that its the odd one out at the threeway

 

[ackmondual]

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella today said that he believes the search engine deal between Apple and Google has made it impossible for other search engines like Bing to compete

The irony of Microsoft saying such things.

It is good to hear folks are still using DuckDuckGo. I hear some stopped, or still have to use Google b/c DDG will miss some of the "finer things" that Google will get.

 

[erasr]

The UI of everything MS does is poor.

I even bought myself an Xbox and that UI is absolutely awful vs my PS5.

 

[secretgrape]

I use DDG as my default, but even when it's not pulling up something it's missing. You can grab Google results through DDG. Just put '!google' at the start of your search. Far better than having to directly interact with Google and have them track you.

 

[BaldiMac]

I’m not talking about that.

I'm well aware that you are trying to move the goalposts, but it's certainly what you said in your OP.

Here you go:

I don’t know if you people missed reading the content or just read the headline.

Apple isn’t accused of anything, google is the accused

The ceo expressed zero criticism against apple.

And none of those posts that you originally quoted said that he did. They simply responded to the comment the Google deal with Apple was responsible for Bing's inability to compete.

 

[mazz0]

Probably true, but then they also have the best product. But then as he points out having lots of users helps them do that. Trouble is I don’t think many people who don’t already switch would choose anything other than Google if there was a selection screen on setup. I agree that a position this dominant is bad, but I don’t yet see a solution.

 

[Robert.Walter]

Microsoft CEO is delusional, Internet Explorer was a distant second long before Apple even had the iPhone.

 

[webkit]

Back then people had to know exactly where to go as well as how to get there, and this was before everyone was heavily exposed to the internet. It was not a basic menu setting built right into the OS like it is on iPhone.

Netscape was a well known browser brand reaching around 90% share of the market at its peak, and was fairly easy to find and download. Sure, some may have been in the dark on how to do so but some have been in the past and/or are in the dark today about changing defaults on iPhones, Macs, Windows computers, Android phones, etc. which is a reason "defaults" can be so valuable.

Plus I recall Netscape making quite a lot of noise in court because they were charging for the browser and IE was free.

Yes, Netscape largely charged for its browser initially while MS was giving away IE for free. That was another issue in the DOJ case against MS although Netscape was also giving away its browser for free by the time the DOJ trial against MS officially started.

Microsoft violated antitrust laws in the 1990s and I think Apple and Google are violating antitrust laws today but it's up to countries/regions and courts to decide.

 

[djlythium]

A similar argument could've been made regarding IE as it related to the DOJ case against Microsoft in the 1990s. Microsoft made IE the "default" browser on Windows and while they may have discouraged computer OEMs from offering alternative browsers, end users could at least still easily "look past" IE and download Navigator or another browser. Microsoft was still charged with anticompetitive behavior.

Then the outcome should be similar, though if much has changed since 1990s, should the outcome be identical?

 

[djlythium]

Terrible analogy. At a grocery store the average consumer can see the other options. On a phone, the average consumer doesn’t even know that google is the default and doesn’t know it can switch engines and doesn’t know how to switch.

It would be like going to the grocery store, only having wonder bread on the shelf, and having the “option” to buy other bread by somehow knowing other breads exist and knowing who to ask for other options even though you can’t even see the other options…

Your rebuttal is predicated on a lot of assumptions. Do you have evidence to back them up? Otherwise, there’s no ground.

 

[picpicmac]

Next up: Yahoo complains that Alta Vista is not the default browser in Edge...

 

[trip1ex]

sounds like a positive for Google if they don't have to pay $16bn/yr to Apple.

...because I feel like basically everyone would choose Google anyway.

 

[thewill586]

I did not know that DDG was based off of Bing. No wonder why my search results all point to MSN.

 

[BGPL]

Their search engine made them dominant in the early 2000's. Their innovations with search kept them on top. What are we supposed to use, Bing??? Don't say Yahoo. Raise your hand if you remember when webcrawler.com was the best in the land.

 

[trusso]

As a longtime Apple user, I would love to see some antitrust legislation brought against Apple.

In the 1970s, a company named IBM was on the receiving end of antitrust legislation because it was understood that owning both the software and all the hardware was incredibly dangerous.

Sound familiar?