Google Allegedly Pays Apple Portion of Chrome Search Revenue as Part of Secretive Non-Compete Deal

[lazyrighteye]

Are you kidding me? Of course Safari would default to Apple's own search engine. This is APPLE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT

Obviously if Apple had Search, it would be On by default across all of their devices.
I'm guessing the person to whom you were replying meant that users could, like they can now, change their default browser from Apple to Google, thus making the -50% claim not entirely accurate.

It has been a while since I looked at DDG. I just enabled it as my default search engine in macOS. Gonna give this a whirl this weekend, see if it's something that can effectively remove the last Google thing in my world.

 

[BootsWalking]

Another stupid waste of time. Breaking news. Two businesses have a business deal that benefits both.

Sure, if you choose ignore the anti-trust laws in this country. By that logic two companies can form an agreement to poison their competitors' customers since it benefits both companies.

 

[rhaezorblue]

I tell all my friends and family to switch to duckduckgo. Now I wish it was easier to move away from Gmail.. soooo many other website accounts I've created over the last 15-20 years have my gmail account as the login info.

 

[falainber]

Does Apple report these $15B as a "services" revenue?

 

[ratspg]

I tell all my friends and family to switch to duckduckgo. Now I wish it was easier to move away from Gmail.. soooo many other website accounts I've created over the last 15-20 years have my gmail account as the login info.

Some people like using FastMail... $5/mo.... they have a super easy gmail importer for your current inboxes, you can have 600 aliases there if you have tons of different domains or email addresses. You can also have gmail rules to forward + delete/archive any emails from gmail to your FastMail account until you slowwwwwwly change the email addresses.

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

Safari is a credible challenger to Chrome though. I'm hard pressed to find features missing from Safari that are available in Chrome save for a larger extension ecosystem. I suspect most people use Chrome for its familiarity or because they want to more readily sync bookmarks/favorites/passwords with an existing Google account (or because they simply prefer it, much like why I use Firefox).

Lol. Let me see, way fewer websites have issues when using Chrome. Chrome has profile support, which is fantastic if you have work (multiple in my case) and personal profiles. Chrome has theme/color support, combined with profiles makes using them even easier. Bookmark support and management in Chrome is way better. Extension support. Favicons that do not disappear like in Safari.

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

No thanks they don’t provided accurate web searches and the company as a whole is questionable, they still collect data…

Exactly this. Everyone on the planet is collecting information. Credit Card and cell phone companies sell your data. Think about what they know about you. Every app on your phone makes DNS calls via your cell provider. Gold mine of data right there.

Using Duck Duck Go to get less than good results because you believe you are giving away less data is actually kind of funny. I use Chrome, Google Search, YouTube and Google Maps.....because they are top of class products.

 

[I7guy]

I always enjoy the virtue signaling in threads like this, like anyone cares what search engine or browser you use. Non-story about two trillion dollar companies putting themselves ahead of their users. Quelle surprise.

Corporations are not your friend, no matter what their maudlin marketing tells you. At least Google doesn’t pretend to be something it isn’t.

Good thing apple doesn’t either.

 

[canadianreader]

I use Chrome on MacOS because of a browser extension which allows me to create multiple categories of web pages, name the category, and then save bookmarks with images to those categories. So, for instance, I have a work-category, where I keep all of my regularly-used work sites grouped, another for personal ‘serious’ like banking, health insurance; another for first-tier news; health; medical; research; etc. It’s really extremely useful.

I’m about to upgrade my mac, but on the old system I’m on (10.13) Safari doesn’t have any similar capabilities—has it improved?

You can use Chrome and Firefox extensions with Orion browser

 

[canadianreader]

If you have a Google Account, your iPhone is basically Google in an Apple wrapper

Or those who have Google, Insta, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok in an Apple wrapper and think they're safe. What happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone 🤣

 

[webkit]

It's an extremely easy change. You can make DDG the default in seconds.

Yes. I mentioned in a previous post (#53) that users can change the default. The reality is that most users don't bother to do so and by making Google the default search, Apple is essentially endorsing use of Google, pushing traffic to Google, etc. and this is a reason why Google pays Apple so much money. Another possible reason, and the main topic of the article, is the alleged non-compete element which would be an antitrust violation.

 

[webkit]

Does Apple report these $15B as a "services" revenue?

Yes.

 

[MadDawg2020]

Easy solution - Don’t use Chrome or any other Google products - problem solved!

 

[MadDawg2020]

Yes. I mentioned in a previous post (#53) that users can change the default. The reality is that most users don't bother to do so and by making Google the default search, Apple is essentially endorsing use of Google, pushing traffic to Google, etc. and this is a reason why Google pays Apple so much money. Another possible reason, and the main topic of the article, is the alleged non-compete element which would be an antitrust violation.

The reality is most people could not care any less and use whatever is working at the moment, and never give a thought or care about the fact that their data is being monitored and taken without their knowledge.
But for those who DO care - it is very easy to switch the defaults or to simply never install or use any Google related products.
Unless Apple intentionally starts blocking one’s ability to switch their default choices or forces users to work with apps they do not want, there is absolutely no need for Government involvement, mandates or forced compliance initiatives.

 

[slb]

Another stupid waste of time. Breaking news. Two businesses have a business deal that benefits both.

A company that claims to care about your privacy is taking money from the company that cares the least about your privacy. You really don't care?

 

[brandoman]

Yes, they've been doing this for YEARS. Not a secret. So, why bring this up now? Did Apple forget to hire another lobbyist?

 

[webkit]

there is absolutely no need for Government involvement, mandates or forced compliance initiatives.

The government involvement here is related to an alleged non-compete aspect of the Apple/Google agreement which would be an antitrust violation.

 

[webkit]

Yes, they've been doing this for YEARS. Not a secret. So, why bring this up now? Did Apple forget to hire another lobbyist?

It is not just coming up "now." This DOJ complaint about the Apple/Google agreement also goes back years. Things don't always move quickly, though.

 

[Alan Wynn]

As Scott McNealy said back in the late 90s, "You have zero privacy anyway… Get over it!"

Scott McNealy, hmmmm what happened to his company again? Just like his dad with AMC.

The mental gymnastics that Apple fanboys perform when it comes to "privacy" are hilarious. If Apple cared so much about privacy, they wouldn't let apps that invade one's precious privacy into the App Store. But - wait for it, it's a shocker - the App Store is full of apps that track location, collect user data, and monetize that data.

So Apple is not just supposed to make sure that you know what (if anything is being tracked), they are supposed to prevent you from deciding to let yourself be tracked? Sorry, that is just not a rational position. First, this is not a binary choice, it is a continuum. Second, this is about letting adults use free will and decide for themselves.

So is anyone surprised that Apple is a complete hypocrite when it comes to its relationship with Google?

I find this position very amusing. You might not actually know this, but Apple and Google are different companies and behave differently. Apple's decision to let Google be the default, while making it really easy to switch it, and ensuring that in their own searches, trackers get no data is not hypocritical at all.

They bash Google in public but happily take all that privacy-invading money!

Their money does not invade my privacy, nor does their default placement. Looking at what happens with Bing and Microsoft's browsers, shows you exactly what would happen if they did not have them be the default - the vast majority of users would just switch and they would get no revenue from it.

Again and again we see that the ends justify the means when it comes to Apple these days.

How does that statement make any sense in this discussion?

 

[gaximus]

Google pays $15b to be default, what does it matter if the money comes from search results from Chrome, or safari, or any other sources from Google?

 

[1885507]

Google pays  to quite literally stay out of the search business and make G the default search engine in Safari.
-  gives users the ability to choose a different search engine (i.e., Ecosia, Yahoo, Bing, and DDG).
- Meanwhile,  gets paid by G for search revenue in G's competitor web browser.

G pays Mozilla to stay out of the search business and also make their search engine the default in FFX.
- Mozilla also gives people the ability to choose a different search engine (i.e., Ecosia, Yahoo, Bing, and DDG).

So, the "scream" for me is how wet-the-bed scared G is of losing the default browser setting on iOS.
However, the "whisper" that should be obvious to anyone, G user or not, is how vulnerable the search engine space is, even for an established search giant like G.

So, G's anti-competitive proclivities aside, were it to disallow any other search provider in Safari, then  may be accused of some sort of malfeasance.
Most who have used Safari since v1.0 will remember Google as the sole search engine in Safari until v5.0 in 2010 (nearly 13 years ago!).

To be fair, G is still doing a slightly better-ish job on user privacy than, say, Microsoft, and their truly bang up job of search privacy and consumer data with Edge.

 

[Tagbert]

I use Chrome on MacOS because of a browser extension which allows me to create multiple categories of web pages, name the category, and then save bookmarks with images to those categories. So, for instance, I have a work-category, where I keep all of my regularly-used work sites grouped, another for personal ‘serious’ like banking, health insurance; another for first-tier news; health; medical; research; etc. It’s really extremely useful.

I’m about to upgrade my mac, but on the old system I’m on (10.13) Safari doesn’t have any similar capabilities—has it improved?

Safari has Tab Groups that let you group your tabs and switch between groups. Not sure if that matches your needs or not.

This is an article on the feature. It is Mac focused but the feature is also avaiable in iOS and iPad OS

Group tabs in Safari on Mac

In Safari on your Mac, organize tabs into groups to conveniently move among related websites.

support.apple.com

I use a similar feature in FireFox via a plugin called Panorama Tab Groups. It lets me switch tabs when I switch between projects with a single click.

 

[Tagbert]

This has been a publicly acknowledged agreement for at least 10 years whereby Google pays to be the default search engine in Safari (but doesn’t block users from choosing another). What has changed, now?

 

[bluecoast]

It gives you raw search results related to your search query. Doesn’t prioritize anything. Google on other hand thinks it knows better than you what you want, so first results are usually news articles and op-eds from mainstream news outlets, most popular websites, and then everything else.

I suspect that ‘thinks it knows better’ is money is changing hands and publishers are paying Google for their news stories to be at the top of their search results.

It’s really funny that Google is seen as an tech company because it’s really just an ad tech company now with search seemingly stagnating fir the last 5+ years and most of what it does to protect that revenue (chrome browser, android) and a few business built on the tech stack around this (Workspace etc)

 

[contacos]

This has been a publicly acknowledged agreement for at least 10 years whereby Google pays to be the default search engine in Safari (but doesn’t block users from choosing another). What has changed, now?

Read the post again? Apple gets a share from the money Google made with Chrome Searches (presumably ads) basically saying „Dear Apple, no need to invest into your own Search Engine. You can have a piece from ours“