Missed Opportunities: Apple’s Bid to Challenge Google’s Search Supremacy

Newly unsealed court transcripts reveal that Apple has passed on multiple opportunities to challenge Google’s dominance in the search engine market. These revelations come as part of the US government’s antitrust lawsuit against Google. The court records offer a rare glimpse into the difficulties faced by Google’s search engine rivals, as they tried to dethrone the tech giant from its coveted position as Apple’s default search provider on countless iPhones and Mac computers—a privilege for which Google has been reportedly paying Apple at least $10 billion annually.

The court transcripts provide insights into the closed-door discussions between the CEO of DuckDuckGo, Gabriel Weinberg, and a senior Apple executive, John Giannandrea. While these discussions didn’t lead to any groundbreaking deals, they highlight the complexities and negotiations that have allowed Google to maintain its status as the world’s leading search engine.

One of the key revelations from these records is that in 2018, Apple began seriously considering a partnership with Microsoft’s Bing search engine. These discussions stemmed from a conversation between Apple CEO Tim Cook and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. However, despite these talks, Apple never moved forward with any deal. The options considered included buying Bing, investing in Bing and taking an ownership share, collaborating on a shared search index, or maintaining the existing partnership with Google.

During the same period, Apple was actively engaged with DuckDuckGo to make it the default search engine for Safari’s private browsing mode while keeping Google as the default in the regular mode. Weinberg testified that they had around 20 meetings and phone calls with Apple officials from late 2017 to late 2019. Apple went as far as drafting a contract outlining proposed revenue shares. However, neither of these initiatives with Bing or DuckDuckGo materialized.

Weinberg pointed to Apple’s contract with Google as the main obstacle to these initiatives. Similar negotiations with other browser and device makers, including Mozilla, Opera, and Samsung, also failed due to their agreements with Google, leading DuckDuckGo to abandon its efforts to secure better browser placement.

Giannandrea acknowledged concerns about jeopardizing the Apple-Google relationship. He mentioned that a deal with Bing or DuckDuckGo could potentially put Apple in direct competition with Google, possibly leading to the end of their search contract. Giannandrea also expressed concerns about the inferior quality of Bing compared to Google in most respects.

Despite this, some within Apple believed that engaging with Bing in some capacity could offer advantages, creating leverage in negotiations with Google and providing future options to replace Google. Giannandrea, however, considered this as not a feasible idea.

The court records also highlight Apple’s capability to build a genuine rival to Google’s search engine, but Apple ultimately decided that it might not be the best way to differentiate its products.

In essence, these unsealed documents provide a glimpse into the missed opportunities and challenges that Apple and its potential partners faced in their attempts to challenge Google’s search dominance.