The abuse of power trial currently underway in the United States against Google has brought to light very interesting details that also involve Apple.
During the hearing, one of the major focal points was the agreements Google entered into with numerous companies (browser developers, mobile operators, etc.) to become the default search engine on their platforms. One of the most lucrative for Google was the one it had with Apple.
Google has been the default search engine on Safari for over 20 years (the browser was first launched in 2003). Over time, the agreement between Google and Apple evolved, eventually transitioning to a revenue-sharing system where Google paid Apple more than $10 billion annually. The purpose? To remain the default search engine on Safari.
Those familiar with this agreement claim they would do anything to be a part of it. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, explained, “Basically, they make the king.” Nadella himself stated that he would be willing to pay up to $15 billion annually to make Bing the default search engine on Safari.
Gabriel Weinberg, CEO of DuckDuckGo, testified in court that if Apple had designated DuckDuckGo as the search engine for private browsing, their market shares would have significantly increased.
While it’s true that Google isn’t the only search engine available on Safari (Yahoo, Bing, Ecosia, and DuckDuckGo are other options), the Department of Justice argues that the change is still difficult and not very intuitive. Becoming Safari’s default search engine is much more crucial than it might seem at first glance.
We only need to look at the data to confirm that Apple dominates nearly half of the smartphone market in the United States. Globally, iPhones top the charts as the best-selling devices. In fact, the iPhone 13 was the world’s best-selling phone in 2022. For Google, this is vital: it knows that one of the ways to access these billions of users is through Safari on iOS.
If it is ultimately proven that Google has violated antitrust laws, the Department of Justice could seek to ban more agreements with Google. In this way, other search engines would have the opportunity to shine as brightly as Google has done for decades.
