With the Google Antitrust Ruling, Will Apple Build a Search Engine?

[Darren.h]

boy. these payments get taken away and there goes apple revenue reports.

now I know why Warren Buffet unloaded half of his Apple stock.


he sees the writing on the wall

revenue in the future will either come in low or flat. year over year.

 

[n-evo]

and once Apple uses their own search engine in safari, they will be sued once again for monopoly. stupid ruling

Which can be easily addressed by giving users a choice what search engine they want to use when setting up iOS.

 

[AppliedMicro]

According to Vestager, DMA is meant to punish American companies

You're literally lying or misrepresenting her statements.
Vestager has maintained that it's not biased against the American origin of companies.

https://www.ft.com/content/d00fb0f3-b542-438f-9d7a-8b83e1d3630f
https://www.politico.eu/article/vestager-no-bias-against-american-companies/

then why were Google paying them

To maintain their quasi monopoly on internet search.

If word gets spread about a "better" alternative to Google, that could quickly snowball - particularly given how much worse Google has gotten lately.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Which can be easily addressed by giving users a choice what search engine they want to use when setting up iOS.

User choice? Careful! You might end up with a bunch of people telling you to choose Android!

 

[brofkand]

If that was the case, then users wouldn’t even be allowed to switch search engines in safari.

Why does Apple care? They've already gotten paid simply by making Google the default.

 

[AppliedMicro]

If that was the case, then users wouldn’t even be allowed to switch search engines in safari.

Lockout isn't required to stifle the competition - default settings are sufficient to do so.

Many people don't even know how to change their default search. The proponents of walled gardens ("no iPhone user ever asked for anything else than") should know that better than anyone else

 

[sw1tcher]

Apple making a search engine, the EU is going to love that.

and once Apple uses their own search engine in safari, they will be sued once again for monopoly. stupid ruling

Google is default search on Android devices and the EU and U.S. doesn't have an issue with that.

The issue is Google is the default on Android *and* iPhone, where the latter is because Google has the deep pockets to pay off Apple and prevent another search provider from moving in.

This is ridiculous! Someone has to be default. Businesses pay a lot of money to be featured in the front-page of the newspaper.

Wouldn't that be considered as an antitrust move? No.

When was the last time you read/saw a newspaper? The front page of a newpaper is not a giant ad, it shows the biggest news story/stories of the day.

But even if it was a giant ad, it's just for one newspaper out of the thousands across the entire U.S. and the ad will generally only run for a short period of time (e.g. one day or one week), givig other advertisers a chance to buy ad space.

Meanwhile, smartphone handsets in the U.S. are predominantly Android and iOS-based, representing 99.71% marketshare. Since 95% of users tend to keep the default settings and with Google paying off handset makers to make Google search the default, that's how Google ends up controlling 95.05% of mobile search in the U.S.

That is a monopoly.

 

[Bryan Bowler]

Sure wish the government would stay out of this and allow a free market.

 

[Skyscraperfan]

An Apple search engine would be a nightmare, because Apple would block all sites that could hurt its reputation. It would probable employ thousands of people who approve every website manually.

 

[GuruZac]

Good riddance. Haven't used Google since Apple offered DuckDuckGo as a default search engine. It's been my default search engine ever since. I avoid all things Google at this point.

 

[MallardDuck]

Honestly, this ruling is largely moot. As much as I don't like Google as a company who exploits user data, their search engine is head and shoulders better than the others. I expect that even if it's not the default, 90% will simply change it back.

And if Apple builds one, then it'll be challenged on antitrust too!

 

[sw1tcher]

If you want your search engine to be the default, you gotta pay. if you don't pay, wait in line behind the one who paid. What's wrong with that? Business is business.

There's business and there's abuse of monopoly power.

And it's not that Apple is not allowing any other search engines to be available. What I do everything I setup a new device is change the search engine to DuckDuckGo.

*checks Safari search options on iOS*

I only see Google, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia as default options. Where's Startpage, Brave, Kagi?

And you say Apple is not "not allowing any other search engines to be available." Ha!

 

[AppliedMicro]

Sure wish the government would stay out of this and allow a free market.

Sure wish you would read up on what “free markets” are.

(Hint: the absence of government intervention alone does not make “free” a market - even though you may have been conditioned into believing that by your local politicians and political lobbyists)

 

[tobybrut]

I’m not sure how a search engine can benefit Apple. They don’t subsidize their products with taking user information like Google and Microsoft do. What’s in it for them if they make one? I suppose they could sell advertising themselves like how they allow mobile apps to advertise within them. I don’t really see how Apple can make a profit with such a feature. Safari is so little used worldwide. I’d be surprised if it cracked 5% of all browser use.

I think Apple would be happy to keep taking money to make Google its default if the courts allow it eventually. This litigation will go on for years and many billions of dollars for Apple will continue to come in. If Google is prevented from doing so in the end, they’ll just sell the rights to someone smaller like Bing or DuckDuckGo (which uses Bing). Why bother making something that isn’t going to provide any benefit to the company?

Personally I’d love to see Apple make a search engine that’s dedicated to privacy like DuckDuckGo. I just don’t think they’ll do it. I stopped using Google’s search long ago.

 

[AppliedMicro]

I’m not sure how a search engine can benefit Apple. They don’t subsidize their products with taking user information like Google and Microsoft do. What’s in it for them if they make one?

Not having to rely on third parties.

That’s why they’ve created their own Maps service, bought Intel’s wireless modem business and design their own chips.

 

[anthogag]

Yes, Apple could make its own search engine like it makes its own browser. Then have all options there for the Apple user to choose. Apple's search engine could be Apple Pro Search, the only "pro" search engine in the list.

 

[The Apple Bitch]

...Sorry for the naive take on this but the whole 'telling companies what they can and can't do' like this is so strange. It's almost like there's no point becoming huge and successful because as soon as you do, you get attacked and called out for being controlling or monopolising...

I get you, I 100% do. Government regulations feel so alien to me. I often find myself trusting companies more than governments. The beauty of late game capitalism is now, governments around the world must restrict and regulate corporations, to keep the economy 'balanced'...

 

[webkit]

and once Apple uses their own search engine in safari, they will be sued once again for monopoly. stupid ruling

Google wasn't sued here for being the default on its own (Chrome) browser. It was sued for its search dominance and anticompetitive behavior (paying to be the default on Safari, Mozilla, Samsung, etc.).

Even if Apple created its own search engine, it wouldn't necessarily achieve significant market share like Google and Apple wouldn't necessarily engage in anticompetitive behavior like paying billions to be the default.

 

[webkit]

If that was the case, then users wouldn’t even be allowed to switch search engines in safari.

Just because users were allowed to switch doesn't mean the pre-set default agreement still didn’t stifle competition. Windows users were allowed to switch from IE to Navigator or other browsers but that didn't mean Microsoft wasn’t stifling competition in the browser market in the 1990s.

 

[macfacts]

I hope only safari can access this apple search engine.

 

[Razeus]

No way they build their own, unless they want to go head to head with Google for advertising. I'm not sure that is in Apple's DNA. Without advertising how do they recoup the R&D cost but more importantly the cost of the infrastructure used for search.

lol Apple makes MORE than enough money to cover it. It's the shareholders that won't be pleased. Because everything revolves around shareholders these days.

 

[Blava]

After using Perplexity for couple of months now, I do not agree with this statement.

I do not follow. You are using Perplexity which is A.I. powered search engine yet you do not agree with statement that future is A.I. based search? Am I lost or my reading comprehension is non existent?

Oh, you mean after months of unsatisfactory results …

 

[The Apple Bitch]

Sure wish the government would stay out of this and allow a free market.

This is the free market!

"There's business and there's abuse of monopoly power." There has to be governmental control over the market for capitalism to continue.

Capitalism will collapse on itself unless the people control the market. The governments are the people. The corporations are the people. The people controls the people. The water continues to flow in its cycle.

And this system will be maintained until something fundamentally shifts. Be it longer lifespans, increased ability to communicate, rivalry to humans or the power of an individual/group to outmatch the rest.

The Apple-Fanboy side of me usually feels that Apple is being mistreated but in reality; regulations often improve what Apple is for me.

 

[ipedro]

Sure, Apple is "portrayed" by Wall Street as the biggest loser in this, but, this lawsuit has been filed in 2022 or 2021 so I am sure Apple already has some plans in place, and I'm sure Gurman will share them over the next few weeks ...

This. Apple has had plenty of time to plan for this, and even more time now that this ruling has landed but will not be enforced yet, pending appeal.

Alphabet is so desperate to have Google be the primary search engine on Apple devices because advertisers know that the iOS and macOS demographic are the ones who spend a disproportionate amount in ad conversions. Google makes the most in ad sales from Apple users.

So, if that's the case, why not Apple generate that revenue themselves? Running a search engine and an ad business was probably not their intention but if they lose those billions from Google, they'll have every incentive to do it now. Not only will they replace that Google payout, they'll set themselves on a path of future growth which Tim Cook has been trying to do in his pivot to services.

 

[uacd]

Well I understand all the “no” and “but” factors but to be honest I would actually love to see Apple search engine.

Tho idk really if this will yield them any money since they will need to completely rethink their sales strategy, build some new advertisement rules, add their own killer features.


Other way is to rely on some new partner. I have checked all popular search engines including DuckDuckGo and Bing and I would not say Bing is too much far away. In case they change default to Bing or DDG not so many people would really notice