What the trial is trying to decide is whether Google is abusing its power to maintain its nearly monopolistic dominance. A monopoly alone isn't illegal. Abusing financial might to maintain one is.
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Google Pays Apple $18B to $20B a Year to Be Default iOS Search Engine
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Not if the U.S. DOJ has any say it in. The sum may be greatly reduced if the court rules that the agreement is an antitrust violation e.g., Apple using its dominance in one area (most popular mobile browser, second most popular desktop browser in the U.S.) to help another company maintain or increase its dominance in another area (Google with search) and/or one dominant company (Google with search) paying another to stay out of a particular market.
I honestly don't see why the government is all over this, its so easy to change a search engine on a phone or app. There are choices. You know whats funny. MS still has a monopoly on the PC market, they bundle and set all their apps as defaults, bing, edge, office, etc... but people make a choice to switch to Chrome and Google search.. if that isn't clear enough that people have spoken I don't know what is. The government needs to spend their resources elsewhere imo!
What does Google get from this arrangement that's worth $18 billion? Do they get to harvest and sell personal data from iPhone users? Apple is supposed to be better at protecting users' info.
So, if not the personal data, then why else would Google pay Apple so much? Maybe to prevent competing search engines from growing their market share, to protect Google's near-monopoly status in the search engine space?
So, if not the personal data, then why else would Google pay Apple so much? Maybe to prevent competing search engines from growing their market share, to protect Google's near-monopoly status in the search engine space?
Google may be paying Apple to help them maintain or increase their "dominance" or "monopoly" in search. They may also be paying Apple to stay out of the search engine business.
Android and Google search are part of the same organization. This is about one company (Google) paying another unrelated company (Apple). However, the DOJ could decide to breakup Google/Alphabet such that Google search, Android, etc. are part of entirely separate companies.
If they're spending "billions and billions of money" to create underwhelming new models that are basically spec-bumps and operating systems that create more problems than introduce useful features (how many emoji's can a human actually keep track of?), then they're doing it wrong. The foundation of their ecosystem was constructed years ago. Now it's just a few new bricks added every year (and some bricks that crack and need to be repaired).
Most companies spend money on R&D for products and services and make money on the sale of said product.
Defaulting to a checkmark in front of "Google" took some coder about 15 minutes to do. Pretty good return on investment I would say.
In-app purchase commission is not cost-free profit. Apple develops the tools to create apps. App developers monetise these tools by creating apps. Apple is simply taking a commission.
The commission structure may not be perfect but it's reasonable. The more you earn using Apple's tools, the higher the commission.
The bundling ruling against Microsoft has evolved a bit over time e.g., allowing MS to include Edge, for example, if users are given an option to easily change the default during Windows setup and/or points after.
Windows' share of the desktop OS market is also notably smaller than it used to be, down to around 57% in the U.S. now.
Ever googled something & clicked the advertised result? Revenue for paid adverts is what they get along with all the other data they can harvest and sell (anonymously) or use themself to become an even bigger behemoth.
Android and Google Search are most assuredly not part of the same organization in the way that you are implying. Google signs agreements with android device manufacturers to include Google apps and services on their devices.
Each device manufacturer forks the android open source project to create the OS for their device. Then they license the Android brand and Google Play Services (which are not part of android) from Google.
Not a developer, but I understand to be one, you have to pay Apple. Doesn't that help subsidize the costs to create the tools? Apple makes more money than God on everything. There is plenty to go around. It is in their own self-interest to keep the app ecosystem healthy. To me, 30% "commission" for basically processing a monetary transaction isn't reasonable especially when credit card companies only charge 2-4% for the same thing.
The question I want to ask is, if Google is paying that much, how much are they making off iOS users?
I can imagine a number below 5 Billion. Beyond that it's just crazy. I think this is a price they pay for their monopoly status.
I've finally made the step and switched to DuckDuckGo. It's not even nearly as good as google. But sometimes, it's enough. And that's why I keep it as my default search engine on all devices. If I don't find what I'm looking for, I'll go to Google. But I'll still do my first search with DDG. I hope I can help DDG become better this way.
Maybe we should, as a society, make a public search engine, something that is a common good and something that is the absolutely best search engine on the planet. With no manipulations, just the biggest internet search tool for humanity, for everyone.
If we wanted, we could finance this. Instead of paying Google, we'd be paying this international construction (could be put in place by the UN), and it could be fully transparent and belong to everyone.
Maybe we should, as a society, make a public search engine, something that is a common good and something that is the absolutely best search engine on the planet. With no manipulations, just the biggest internet search tool for humanity, for everyone.
If we wanted, we could finance this. Instead of paying Google, we'd be paying this international construction (could be put in place by the UN), and it could be fully transparent and belong to everyone.
I don’t think Apple has to work very hard to keep you as a customer. It is interesting how so many argue Google is bad and anti privacy and security but when it comes to paying Apple billions to be the default search engine on iOS privacy and security don’t matter any more and Google is just fine. When you say Apple has aggregated the “best” customers what you’re really saying is customers who have a lot of disposable income. But we should be careful with words. Someone isn’t lesser because they can’t afford a $1000 phone.
I have a feeling macrumors commenters would have defended ma bell at the time too
Apple would argue that 30% is for access to their customer base. Of course we know the bulk of App Store revenue comes from game IAP so there’s very little Apple has to do there in terms of development/R&D. And then of course the question is who is actually bringing the customer to the App Store. I haven’t downloaded a new app or made an in app purchase in a while but I certainly can’t remember the last time I did so because of Apple. Usually if I download an app it’s because I hear about it on a podcast or read about it on a tech site. Not because of any promotion from Apple or the App Store.