Google reportedly paid this much to seal the deal after Apple rejected Microsoft’s offer of $15 billion to replace the default search engine.
Google, the industry leader in search, and tech behemoth Apple have an agreement that makes Google Search the default search engine for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other devices using the Safari browser. Although the deal’s statistics were not available to the public, a subsequent article provided locations for these amounts.
The Verge said that Google gave the iPhone manufacturer over $18 billion in 2021, citing the New York Times. These are very high compared to the lowest projections of $10 billion and almost identical to the highest forecasts of $20 billion. The sum prevents Apple from developing a substitute search engine and instead places the company’s search engine first.
John Giannandrea, Senior VP of ML and AI Strategy at Apple, said throughout the trial that the company had intended to acquire Bing or develop its own internal search engine but had backed out out of concern about embarrassing itself in front of Google.
According to reports, Apple turned down a fresh offer from Microsoft for $15 billion to set Bing as the default search engine. The alliance between Google and Microsoft was suggested by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella with the caveat that Google may withhold its services, including Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Chrome, and more, in the event of a breakup. Should the sale be closed, this might lower the partnership’s value and cause people to stop using Safari.
The US Department of Justice is alleging that the provisions of the agreement allow for anti-competitive activities, and this is the main focus of the US v. Google trial. Testimony in the lawsuit persists that the market will be dominated by anybody with access to Apple’s enormous market dominance inside the search engine.
On Thursday, Google will make its case during the trial. The IT behemoth will probably brag that their engine is among the finest available on the market, which is why Apple and other companies utilize it. For those who are unaware, Google was charged by the Justice Department and 37 states with abusing its power in the search market and paying large amounts of money to get its search engine installed by default on cellphones.
