WOW, now we know why Google is still the default 16 years after the iPhone launched!
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Apple Gets 36% of Google's Safari Search Revenue
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Web browsers routinely report the platform specs to the web server. It will tell the server "safari on IOS" or whatever it is. There is zero user information in this.
This is needed because the server might want to change what it sends based on the browser. Certainly, the server needs to know if the browser is on a phone or a desktop so it can format the page to fit properly.
why don’t you change your search default to Bing? Oh, I see… you developed your own?If it's not a bribe, then what do you call it when Alphabet/Google pays Apple to not develop their own search engine that would compete with Google?
Google Is Paying Apple a Lot of Money Not to Build a Search Engine. Why It's Just Not Worth It
The money Apple gets isn't worth the conflict with its values.www.inc.com
what does this have to do with privacy? What is being sent that you would prefer not be sent? Please be specific.
If the search engine were changed from Google to Bing, the exact same information would have to be sent to Bing. As a minimum you have to send the search string text. But to be useful you need to also send location and store a cookie that identifies some kind of transaction ID. None of this gives away any information about you.
The way these IDs work is the server (Google, Bing or another) tells yu browser "Please remember this number 29385765930." and then latr it can ask you "What was that number I gave you?" The ID says nothing about you except that you are the same person you were a few milliseconds ago.
Some people don't like the ID idea because now the server can know that "29385765930" is in Utah and just searched for women's shoes". You can disable this if you like.
That’s how some people have interpreted it. Given it would be difficult to build a search engine that could truly compete with Google and align with their privacy values, it’s more likely Apple have no interest in building a search engine.Buying an ad in a newspaper is not remotely the same thing as this.
This payment by Google to Apple is so Apple doesn't develop their own competing search engine.
Google reportedly pays $18 billion a year to be Apple’s default search engine
Apple and Google are great partners — and great competitors.www.theverge.com
That money not only gives Google prime placement on Apple devices but it also has historically kept Apple from building its own search engine. John Giannandrea, a former Google executive who now runs machine learning and AI at Apple, testified during the trial that Apple had considered everything from buying Bing to building its own search engine but worried both about competing with Google and losing its deal.
"losing its deal" = losing out on the billions Google pays Apple each year
“We are no gatekeeper”
get paid staggering amounts for default search and an unheard of revenue cut
get paid staggering amounts for default search and an unheard of revenue cut
Google's finances show that their cost of revenue is $131B/year. $20B - over 15% - of that cost of revenue is just paying Apple to make Google the default search engine on iOS.
No wonder Apple wants to keep Chromium off of iOS - if they let it on, the Safari on iOS would massively drop off and Google would probably reduce that to $5B or so.
So... if we hear that Apple's monopoly with Safari ends, is the smart play to have money in Google? Since Google's revenue won't change, but their expenses will suddenly drop by 10+% and profits will bump up by about that same percent?
No wonder Apple wants to keep Chromium off of iOS - if they let it on, the Safari on iOS would massively drop off and Google would probably reduce that to $5B or so.
So... if we hear that Apple's monopoly with Safari ends, is the smart play to have money in Google? Since Google's revenue won't change, but their expenses will suddenly drop by 10+% and profits will bump up by about that same percent?
So, in a sense, Apple is basically selling their customers’ data and privacy to Google.
I have given all other search engines a try and Google beats them all hands down. Even if Google wasn’t the default search engine I would select it as such right away.
I'm not sure if anyone else pointed this out but, that's not how an internet search works...
Today Google search is hot garbage. I dread having to use it. Without having to try harder and just paying Apple off we have the same tired complacency of every other failed company of the past. We need more competition otherwise we get stuck with hot garbage like google search.
Hopefully Microsoft with ChatGPT can make headway. And hopefully legislators clamp down on this sort of behavior so others can fairly compete with google.
Hopefully Microsoft with ChatGPT can make headway. And hopefully legislators clamp down on this sort of behavior so others can fairly compete with google.
Two trillion dollar corporations entered into a negotiation and came to a mutually beneficial agreement. Crazy!
It's not that simple, and you know that. Companies are not just buying advertising. They're paying to track customers across the web using various metrics. Just because I search for a product or visit a company's website doesn't give them permission to track me across the web.
It's a legit privacy concern and one of the worst offenders is Google. Do they have the best search engine? I would argue yes, but that doesn't absolve them from privacy concerns either.
Apple, ironically, has positioned itself as the mobile privacy leader. Yet, they've tied themselves to a business deal with Google that generates billions upon billions per year for their services division. A decision that's going to be hard to backtrack from because of Wallstreet.
It's a problem. You're either the privacy leader or you're not. And right now, Apple's playing both sides. Should they make money from search providers? Sure, but treat them equally and give consumers an upfront option to pick with an appropriate warning.
Duck Duck Go has its own issues too, particularly because most of its results come from Bing.
Brave roasts DuckDuckGo over Bing privacy exception
Search biz hits back at 'misleading' claims, saga lifts lid on Microsoft's web tracking advice
It is that simple. If you come to my website, I’m going to advertise to you across the web. Why? Because it works. It doesn’t hurt you. Nobody needs to know anything else about you. Nobody is taking your card information or forcing you to make any kind of purchase, or anything else. Re-targeting works. It’s not a privacy issue. If you are going to go to websites, then you are agreeing to be advertised to. Apple has demonized it (while actually having some involvement with it), but you are completely unharmed by accurate, relevant ads. Nobody is hunting you down or coming to your house. Publishers are going to do everything they can to monetize their websites. Period. And it is not harmful to you.
I use Startpage which works well enough for me. Ecosia looks interesting: https://www.ecosia.org/?c=en
In this case I don’t really blame apple, just looking at Siri let’s be honest a search engine from apple wouldn’t be able to compete with google from 2005. 99% of people will choose google as their default anyway if you give them the option at setup, the only people who wouldn’t are the people who already go into setting and change it. So apple figures why not get a free 10 billion out of it