Australia Eyes Consumer Impact of Google's Default Search Engine Deal With Apple

[MacRumors]

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission watchdog is eyeing a potential probe into pre-installed software and pre-defined "default" choices on mobile devices, including Google being set as the default search engine on Apple devices.

In a press release (via ZDNet), the agency is asking for consumer and industry feedback on the state of default settings, pre-installed web browsers, and how it impacts consumer choice, freedom, and competition. On Apple devices, Google is the default search engine in Apple's Safari browser, and while users can change it, there has been concern over how it hinders competition.

Earlier last year, the United States Department of Justice launched an antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing it of anticompetitive behavior. As part of the case, it was revealed that Apple receives anywhere between $8 billion and $12 billion per year from Google in exchange to make it the default search engine for Safari. The lawsuit claims that the lucrative deal makes it significantly harder for competing search engines such as DuckDuckGo to grow and compete, given the massive advantage Google has.

ACCC Chair Rod Sims says that while users can change the search engine to other providers besides Google, the default option "increases the likelihood that consumers and businesses will stick with that option." Sims says that the agency wants to hear directly from consumers and businesses about how these default choices and pre-installed software impact how they use those services.

We would like to hear from consumers and businesses about the impact of the pre-installation of services and default settings on devices on their use of these services. We're also interested in how the design of user interfaces on devices, such as widgets, search bars, and the steps required for a consumer to change a default search service can affect how consumers use these services.

The agency has not formally launched an investigation into the situation. However, it is requesting feedback as part of an upcoming report "on the impact of default settings and pre-installation of search services and web browsers on consumer choice and competition."

Article Link: Australia Eyes Consumer Impact of Google's Default Search Engine Deal With Apple

 

[ghostface147]

So what’s the solution? Insert a choose your search engine screen in setup and list them in ABC order with none of them checked as a default?

 

[assb10yr]

I wonder how much choice do Australians have when it comes to picking the taxes they wish to pay?

 

[SkyRom]

I can't stand Google, but their bread and butter is search and this is a mild, one-time inconvenience for me to change in the settings. The bigger issue to me is the limited set of additional tools giving the illusion of choice (Bing, Yahoo, DDGo, etc.) I'd rather have the ability to install any search engine I want.

[edit] 🙂

 

[DinkThifferent]

Headline one year from now:

Australia Eyes Consumer Impact of Default Camera module on iPhone, citing unfair competition with Nikon and Canon.
ACCC Chair Rod Sims says that while users can change the Camera Module by disassembling their phone and attaching a wide angle lens made by Canon, the default option "increases the likelihood that consumers and businesses will stick with that option."

More tonight at 11 PM.

 

[hellosil]

Google wants eyes on their search engine, but that preferably didn’t include this.

This is a code red scenario for them.
Also, so far Apple likes its Billions of $$

 

[a104375]

I don't know the solution they're after. Someone has to be the default, what an annoying customer experience it would be to have one more thing to set during phone setup. It's not like Apple's defaulted it to their own hypothetical search engine, like Google does on Android.

 

[shapesinaframe]

This is probably a tactic to get Google to move on something else the government wants. I don’t for a second think my government gives a **** about search engine choice on phones.

 

[SoldOnApple]

Duck duck go sucks for search. But maybe it wouldn’t if Apple gave them some userbase. Bing and Yahoo are better, they still run like oldschool Google did. Just straight up search results, no cleverness behind their algorithms for better and worse.

Google long ago reneged on Jobs’ deal with to not make phones in exchange for Apple not making their own search engine. Maybe Apple should buy Duck Duck Go and make it a privacy friendly default search engine that actually works.

 

[Zaft]

This reminds me of Congress grilling Amazon or Google in DC but we all know they use both services.

 

[jsmith189]

This is probably a tactic to get Google to move on something else the government wants. I don’t for a second think my government gives a **** about search engine choice on phones.

Bingo.

 

[ScreenSavers]

So what’s the solution? Insert a choose your search engine screen in setup and list them in ABC order with none of them checked as a default?

Because there’s not enough choices in the setup screens yet…

 

[LordVic]

So what’s the solution? Insert a choose your search engine screen in setup and list them in ABC order with none of them checked as a default?

Similar to what Microsoft ended up having to do with Internet Explorer when they ran afoul of Anti-trust laws.

nothing installed by default and when you went to launch a browser, you were presented with multiple options.


Funny though how how decades later, these massive corporations no longer seem to be held to the same standards.

 

[realeric]

When IE was dominating the web browser market in '200x, people told "If we don't use IE, what else choices we have?". So do the search engine now. Microsoft told "IE8 is the last version. There is nothing to improve the web browser anymore".

 

[haruhiko]

This is probably a tactic to get Google to move on something else the government wants. I don’t for a second think my government gives a **** about search engine choice on phones.

The news thing?

 

[RedTheReader]

The problem is, as others have pointed out, that there needs to be some default, and favoring a random search engine would still impact “consumer choice, freedom, and competition.”

I suppose we could make it so that when you get a new phone, you install your own pick for every application you’ll need. But to most users, this will be an inconvenience… and not a small one, either. I think the importance isn’t in forcing someone to choose their own software, it’s in making sure they have the freedom to change it later.

 

[neuropsychguy]

So what’s the solution? Insert a choose your search engine screen in setup and list them in ABC order with none of them checked as a default?

Yes. That's a good solution (or maybe randomize the presentation of providers so it's not biased to ABC sorting). It's a minor inconvenience. Most people will select Google (myself included) but at least people know there are options. Although, there would be a small subset of people who would have new issues with phone setup if this was added.

I don't mind having a default search engine but I also know the alternatives and know how to change the default.

 

[lostom]

I wonder how much choice do Australians have when it comes to picking the taxes they wish to pay?

We have zero choice, that's standard in a democratic society though, it's a government thing.

 

[The Cappy]

I wonder how much choice do Australians have when it comes to picking the taxes they wish to pay?

Non-sequitur.

 

[sw1tcher]

Duck duck go sucks for search.

Try StartPage

Google-like results but without the tracking and privacy worries.

 

[08380728]

Yeah yeah, we’re all about Privacy here at Apple, unless some one pays us 12 billion a year, that’s really the most important issue of this century, selling out and making money 😂🤣😂

 

[iamgalt]

I don't know the solution they're after. Someone has to be the default, what an annoying customer experience it would be to have one more thing to set during phone setup. It's not like Apple's defaulted it to their own search engine, like Google does on Android.

How often are you setting up a new phone that makes an additional 2 second choice of 4 search engines such an annoyance?

 

[The Cappy]

This is probably a tactic to get Google to move on something else the government wants. I don’t for a second think my government gives a **** about search engine choice on phones.

That's like saying, "The police wouldn't be pressing the investigation of that robbery if there hadn't been a political angle to it." Except that, whether the statement were true or not, there had still *been* a robbery. Judge a thing on its merits. This case does actually have merit. If there were not an enormous advantage for Google to be default, they wouldn't be paying that mind-bubbling sum of money. What advantages Google to the tune of $8b disadvantages its competitors to the tune of $8b. If it didn't, then Google would much rather have kept that money. Why is that hard to understand? And maybe, just maybe, the reason Australia is attacking Google on two fronts is *NOT* because one of them is a sham lever to get action on the other, but because Australia is just getting frustrated with Google's tactics. Even if it's not, though, the current issue under discussion absolutely does stand on its own.

 

[08380728]

So what’s the solution? Insert a choose your search engine screen in setup and list them in ABC order with none of them checked as a default?

Yeah with BIG CAPS TEXT next to Google saying this choice will track you, sell your info to the highest bidder, target you with Ads provide you with results that make us money.

 

[incoherent_1]

So what’s the solution? Insert a choose your search engine screen in setup and list them in ABC order with none of them checked as a default?

That.... actually sounds great!


I mean, we already have an entire screen dedicated to asking me whether I want to voluntarily share my data with Apple (for no compensation) to allow them to develop their business, so why not give a choice? It may actually educate a lot of consumers that a choice exists.