Google Allegedly Pays Over $18 Billion a Year to Be Apple’s Favorite Search Engine (gizmodo.com)
from FlyingSquid@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world on 11 Oct 2023 18:43
https://lemmy.world/post/6662409

#technology

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autotldr@lemmings.world on 11 Oct 2023 18:45 next collapse

This is the best summary I could come up with:


According to a Bernstein analyst, that’s how much Google is paying Apple to keep its top spot, representing roughly 15% of the iPhone maker’s annual operating profits.

Bernstein analysts are looking into Apple’s exposure to the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Google, originally reported by The Register.

One of the major interest areas of the case is the payments it makes to Apple, classified under the Information Services Agreement (ISA).

“We believe there is a possibility that federal courts [will] rule against Google and force it to terminate its search deal with Apple,” says the Bernstein report.

Google’s Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai raised concerns over the bad optics of its Safari deal back in 2007.

“I don’t think it is a good user experience nor the optics is great for us to be the only provider in the browser,” said Pichai in emails to co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin that were revealed in the case.


The original article contains 304 words, the summary contains 158 words. Saved 48%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

robocall@lemmy.world on 11 Oct 2023 18:57 next collapse

Just the cost of doing business.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 11 Oct 2023 18:58 collapse

Certainly true for Apple if this is 15% of their operating profits every year.

sadreality@kbin.social on 11 Oct 2023 20:29 collapse

Mega corp paying protection fee to another mega corp...

FTC see nothing wrong with this market

LazaroFilm@lemmy.world on 11 Oct 2023 19:24 next collapse

As long as they don’t suddenly stop supporting Apple devices overnight, leaving Apple to scramble to make their own search engine that sucks and still sucks 10 years later. #mapgate

someguy3@lemmy.ca on 11 Oct 2023 19:27 next collapse

There was a recent post about them entertaining making DuckDuckGo the default. I think it’s just a negotiation point.

ripcord@kbin.social on 11 Oct 2023 20:37 next collapse

Only for private mode, which made some sense.

LazaroFilm@lemmy.world on 11 Oct 2023 21:49 collapse

I have switched to DDG and like it.

ripcord@kbin.social on 11 Oct 2023 22:56 collapse

It was ok to me, but still tended to find the Google results better (especially in verbatim mode) and kept going back to it.

I'm using Kagi right now for a bunch of reasons and it's awesome, but 99.99% of people aren't going to pay money for a search engine. Especially at these prices. But it's way less money than Google, and Bing make off mining our data, or DDG does selling ads and doing SOME mining

ripcord@kbin.social on 11 Oct 2023 20:36 collapse

But...the maps are actually pretty good now? I thought?

LazaroFilm@lemmy.world on 11 Oct 2023 21:46 collapse

They’re getting better but still takes you to the the back entrance of the place now and then. Plus it doesn’t take me to the shortest drive on my commute. Keeps on taking me to local streets, adding 5 minutes then I disregard the turn and it updates for a shorter drive. But they’re making progress.

Nurgle@lemmy.world on 11 Oct 2023 19:37 next collapse

The number is massive regardless, but this figure is speculation fyi

The Justice Department’s lead litigator Kenneth Dintzer, estimates Google’s ISA payments to be over $10 billion, and while the true figure remains confidential, the $18-$20 billion estimate assumes a new magnitude.

Eggyhead@artemis.camp on 11 Oct 2023 20:02 next collapse

I’m thankful I have the option to change it.

onlinepersona@programming.dev on 11 Oct 2023 20:20 next collapse

It’s not clear to me how browsers are supposed to make the list of search engines open and not bound to money. Especially for closed source stuff, how would it work? Should they have a git repo to which search engines can make pull requests to to be included in the list of search engines a user can choose from when first starting up Safari?

If the list and process of getting on the list is closed, then one can always just assume that to get on the list, it requires money. But if that’s made illegal… yeah, not sure how this should be solved.

lolcatnip@reddthat.com on 11 Oct 2023 21:16 next collapse

Any user can add their own search engine in desktop versions of Firefox and Chromium-based browsers. Not sure about mobile versions. IIRC search sites can even put an icon in the URL bar to automate the process.

Vigge93@lemmy.world on 11 Oct 2023 21:28 next collapse

I mean, you just have to specify the format of the url that the search engine uses, and then the browser just formats in your search string into that. This has existed for years, if not over a decade, at this point, at least on desktop.

smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de on 11 Oct 2023 22:08 collapse

Firefox solved this long time ago: …mozilla.org/…/change-your-default-search-engine-…

In desktop Firefox there is also a format in which webpage can inform it’s a search engine and the browser would list option to add it in the search selection (Firefox has a selector to choose search engine on each query if you want).

yoz@aussie.zone on 11 Oct 2023 21:37 next collapse

Fucking hell! and they still fire their employees.

carl_dungeon@lemmy.world on 12 Oct 2023 00:45 next collapse

I used to love Google, the company, the search, the tech. But god damn if in the last 5 years it hasn’t become the most insane ad delivery tool in existence. Sometimes when I Google something it’s multiple full pages of ads before I actually see what I’m looking for. I switched to duckduckgo.

Steve@communick.news on 12 Oct 2023 01:42 next collapse

Should look into Kagi. No ads at all, for $5/month

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip on 12 Oct 2023 13:38 collapse

I don’t think that’s a good idea in terms of privacy and reliability. You need an account to use it

Steve@communick.news on 14 Oct 2023 14:04 collapse

In terms of privacy that could be debatable.
But what do you mean by reliability?

Tygr@lemmy.world on 12 Oct 2023 03:38 next collapse

DDG is essentially Bing though. The results aren’t the greatest. If Bing decides to ban a site, it’s banned on DDG.

[deleted] on 12 Oct 2023 13:06 collapse

.

crandlecan@mander.xyz on 12 Oct 2023 06:29 collapse

Try presearch: it has way better results than DDG

AProfessional@lemmy.world on 12 Oct 2023 13:02 collapse

Seems like a Brave-esqe crypto platform:

In addition to offering users a great search experience, Presearch is dedicated to creating significant value for marketers who would like to reach Presearch users. Advertisers can stake their PRE to a keyword, and whichever advertiser stakes the most tokens will have its ads displayed when a user searches on the term selected. Advertisers confer the most external value on PRE, so their success is very important to the ecosystem.

crandlecan@mander.xyz on 12 Oct 2023 13:15 collapse

True, for the browser. But their search engine works in any browser and has the best quality search results

AProfessional@lemmy.world on 12 Oct 2023 13:18 collapse

The site has ads too. Nothing specific to the app.

crandlecan@mander.xyz on 12 Oct 2023 06:30 next collapse

Hey Google! If you want you can be my top search engine again… 🤭

TvanBuuren@feddit.nl on 12 Oct 2023 13:25 collapse

Pretty lies 😂

sturmblast@lemmy.world on 12 Oct 2023 12:58 next collapse

that’s pretty fucking insane

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip on 12 Oct 2023 13:39 collapse

Yeah duckduckgo can’t possible afford that