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Google Basically Pays Apple to Stay Out of the Search Engine Business, Class Action Lawsuit Alleges
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Half the people in the city not being able to afford a carpenter. That's the problem. The carpenters are happy. All 2 of them.
Apple competing with Google for SE market? Not happening, as currently Google has a real worldwide dominance there. “Google” has become a search synonym for a while now. I personally use DuckDuckGo because it does the job for me, but dethroning Google as such in SE and worldwide mapping - good luck with that! Apple know that very well and must be stoked to get this money.
Are you on the side of the 2 carpenters? Or the public? There will always be power in the world, be it government, or be it large companies. Nothing will ever be fair for everybody.
If we're actually talking about carpenters here, the I say let a third carpenter come in a straighten things out, no need for government interference.
Apple and Google are not carpenters.
Yes, and even the latest Apple Maps remain a rather limited territorial effort with a poor POI database.
Google sure loves its Apple, and vice-versa!
There's not one to criticize or sue the other, since years.
Make what you want of it, but it smells collusion to keep a status quo for as long as possible.
There's not one to criticize or sue the other, since years.
Make what you want of it, but it smells collusion to keep a status quo for as long as possible.
I think to understand the anti-competitive aspects here you have to first identify the customer who is being harmed here. Don't think of the customer as a user of a search engine - we are actually the product. The customer is the business that pays (google, etc) to show up sooner than later in search results. If there was a more even distribution of search users spread across competing search engines, google likely would not be able to charge as much of the premium they charge for SEO. The customers paying google are probably paying google higher SEO rates as a result of having fewer competitors in the market.
If you wanted to simplify the argument - if in a small town, there were three banks, and bank 1 paid bank 2 a sum of money to refrain from home refinancing, I'm pretty sure that would be anti-competitive behavior.
I also should caveat, that I see all sorts of mergers and acquisitions all the time that I think seem kind of anti-competitive and no actions are ever taken to stop them. Everywhere you look, it seems like everyone's in a rush to gobble up any independent competitor (in whatever business/industry) so that we are left with a couple of massive national firms holding all the cards.
If you wanted to simplify the argument - if in a small town, there were three banks, and bank 1 paid bank 2 a sum of money to refrain from home refinancing, I'm pretty sure that would be anti-competitive behavior.
I also should caveat, that I see all sorts of mergers and acquisitions all the time that I think seem kind of anti-competitive and no actions are ever taken to stop them. Everywhere you look, it seems like everyone's in a rush to gobble up any independent competitor (in whatever business/industry) so that we are left with a couple of massive national firms holding all the cards.
After more thought on the subject, I wonder if Google has been helping Apple suppress third-party app innovation.
Needs to be investigated !
Needs to be investigated !
There are other carpenters in town, and easy to reach, according to Apple.
DuckDuckGo is an available option, among others.
So what's the problem if Google pays Apple to be on top of the list?
It's like paying a premium for an Ad on a newspaper to be on the first page. You could pay enough so no other ads that could compete with you are featured in the same page as your ad.
How does this hurt people? Alternative search engines are a click away.
This is just more non-sense lawyer bs.
Well, not everything is about making money of something, it can add value to something too. iMessages, iSuite, iMovies don't make money per se, but it adds value to their platform which its how those products are important. Maybe an Apple Search Engine would make people switch from another platform or undecided people stay on Apple products.
Also they could still put ads like they do on the App Store, they won't be that specific but if someone searches "dog leash" im sure apple could show ads about dog leashes without needing to use personal information.
I’ve used DuckDuckGo for 2 years and it is really okay
.Still there are times I end up going to google.com to get better results.
Because people may doesn't know about alternatives because they're not shown. When you open safari for the first time you should be asked what search engine would you like to use and give some info what data they collect. If the App Store has this info easily displayed for the user why not add this rule for search engines?
If the two carpenters make a deal under freedom of contract, the deal could be for one carpenter to simply do nothing and get paid for it. I fail to see how that Carpenter is “forced out of the market”.
Who would refuse to get paid for doing nothing and why?
And this deal does not prevent other carpenters to enter the market at will.
You're confusing the monetary amount (secret) with the existence of the agreement (not secret).
If Apple are no longer making computers with changeable RAM/HDD, because the vast majority of their customers never actually do such things - how many do you think change their default browser settings?
I don't know the answer to that... But Google have put an answer on it. Billions of dollars...
Only that bank 2 is not actually a bank, but a grocery store which offers customers additional benefits. Apple is a hardware manufacturer first and Google’s a search engine business.
Well, I think lots of their software could be on the "Since Apple's primary business isn't selling ads, it would be extremely hard for Apple to recuperate the cost" too. They have a messaging platform, a maps app, office suite, iMovie, a quite complete image/video editor on the photos app, and maybe quite some more that I dont remember. I dont really know the difference of cost between a search engine and a maps app, but both seem like massive projects and still apple is developing one of them, which started having poorly results and today is a good substitute of google maps.
Those services are free, but they make people buy Apple products because its added value.
Also, apple wouldnt need to make their search engine as default. Just show it on a list with the others search engines and let the user choose.
LOL
Apple has an agreement with Google that it won't develop its own internet search engine so long as Google pays it to remain the default option in Safari, a new class action alleges.
Filed in a California court earlier this week against Apple, Google, and their respective CEOs, the lawsuit alleges the two companies have a non-compete agreement in the internet search business that violates US antitrust laws.
Specifically, the complaint charges Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai of participating in "regular secret meetings" in which Google agrees to share its profits with Apple if it is given preferential treatment on devices like the iPhone and iPad.
The class action also alleges that Google pays Apple annual multi-billion-dollar payments based on an agreement that Apple won't launch its own competing search engine, and that the non-compete agreement includes plans to actively suppress smaller competitors and acquire actual and potential competitors.
The complaint claims that advertising rates are subsequently higher than rates would be in a competitive system. It therefore seeks an injunction prohibiting the non-compete agreement between Google and Apple, a cessation of the profit-sharing agreement and preferential treatment, and an end to the multi-billion dollar payments.
Lastly, the complaint calls for "the breakup of Google into separate and independent companies and the breakup of Apple into separate and independent companies in accordance with the precedent of the breakup of Standard Oil company into Exxon, Mobile, Conoco, Amoco, Sohio, Chevron, and others."
It's no secret Apple and Google have a considerable monetary agreement that ensures Google's position as the default search engine on Apple devices. Neither company has ever confirmed exactly how much Google pays to be the default search engine on Apple devices in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries, but it's rumored to be in the billions.
In 2020, The New York Times reported that Apple receives an estimated $8-12 billion per year in exchange for making Google the default search on its devices. According to one analyst, Google's payment to Apple in 2021 to maintain this status quo may have reached up to $15 billion.
This is believed to be the single biggest payment Google makes to anyone, and could account for up to a fifth of Apple's annual profits. But it has also drawn scrutiny in the past, in particular from the US Justice Department, which claims that the deal is representative of illegal tactics used to protect Google's monopoly and stifle competition.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority has also called the arrangement a "significant barrier to entry and expansion" for rivals in the search engine market, and in 2020 asked for enforcement authorities to be provided with a range of options to address the deal between Apple and Google to provide a more level playing field for other search engines.
Bringing the antitrust case to a San Francisco court this week, lawyer Joseph M Alioto said: "These powerful companies abused their size by unlawfully foreclosing and monopolizing major markets which in an otherwise free enterprise system would have created jobs, lowered prices, increased production, added new competitors, encouraged innovations, and increased the quality of services in the digital age."
Apple and Google would likely argue that while the payments are indeed for Google to remain the default search option, users can select other search engines in Safari including Microsoft's Bing, Verizon's Yahoo, and independent search engines DuckDuckGo and Ecosia.
Apple would also likely point out that it is already in the search engine business and maintains an active web crawler, called Applebot. The crawler chiefly operates in the background to improve Siri and Spotlight search results, although past reports have interpreted Applebot's increased activity as Apple "stepping up efforts" to develop its own search technology should its agreement with Google become incompatible with antitrust laws.
Article Link: Google Basically Pays Apple to Stay Out of the Search Engine Business, Class Action Lawsuit Alleges
Breaking up Apple would be disastrous. Break it up into what? iPhone company. Mac company? iPad company? App Store company. It would absolutely destroy them and all their products. Google, on the other hand, should break up from YouTube in my opinion. Owning both of the world's largest search engines (which YouTube is) seems a bit much. Also, YouTube lacks any real competition.
Considering these services are free I’m not sure I see the harm.
You had me til you whined about breaking up either company.
These dingbat lawyers clearly need to stay out of the tech realm when they have no clue how important interoperability is. They probably have Consumer Cellular flip phones, manual toothbrushes, and still pay for AOL.
These dingbat lawyers clearly need to stay out of the tech realm when they have no clue how important interoperability is. They probably have Consumer Cellular flip phones, manual toothbrushes, and still pay for AOL.