Whether Apple should develop its own Apple search engine has been a headache puzzled Apple management.
Three related posts
In my previous three posts, I mentioned the Google search engine currently used by Apple on various devices, as well as the problems faced by Apple: “Why Apple plummeted by Google antitrust ruled a monopoly?“, “Google’s search engine antitrust ruled out will not impact on Alphabet”, and “Apple’s upcoming products, services, and technologies“
These three posts raise a question that has been discussed for a long time: the possibility and necessity of Apple building an Apple search engine.
Third party search engine
Apple’s current option
Eddy Cue, Apple’s head of services, said there is no “effective alternative” to Google’s search engine and that Apple has always chosen Google because “we have always believed it is the best.”
Solutions that have been used
Apple briefly used Microsoft’s Bing many years ago, but due to poor user experience, it was immediately switched back to Google’s search engine. In 2018, Apple considered the possibility of acquiring Bing.
In the antitrust case in which Google’s search engine monopoly was found to be established, documents showed that Microsoft had been trying to persuade Apple to change Safari’s default search engine to Bing for many years, and even offered to sell Bing to Apple. , but Apple believes that Bing cannot compete with Google in terms of “quality and capabilities.” Microsoft even offered to share all revenue from Bing with Apple.
Options that have been considered
The most famous one is DuckDuckGo, because DuckDuckGo claims that it will not track users’ browsing history. This product feature claimed by DuckDuckGo really impressed Apple, which has the highest guiding principle of protecting user privacy.
The reason why Apple executives have repeatedly discussed whether DuckDuckGo is suitable to replace Google’s search engine, especially as the default search engine in private browsing mode, is that they ultimately decided that DuckDuckGo was “not a very good search engine” and was “not good enough” and gave up. .
Self-developed option
The importance of search engines
Search engines are the “most fundamental technology” for monetizing all advertising on the Internet today. Almost all current technology giants have related technologies in this area, whether developed by themselves or through mergers and acquisitions. Generally speaking, unless there is a special reason, no technology giant is willing to use the search engine of a competing manufacturer, because no one wants to be strangled by their neck and allowed to be slaughtered.
Apple is an extremely special case. After weighing many considerations, it gave up developing its own search engine and instead cooperated with Google.
Requires huge investment of resources
General estimates suggest that Apple could lose more than $12 billion in revenue in the first five years after separating from Google’s search engine, and would need billions more to build and maintain the search engine. Apple needs to create an advertising platform and work to monetize search, and it needs to make sure it develops a search engine that’s comparable to Google’s.
And no one can guarantee whether it will reach the level of Google search engine in the end.
Possibility of inhouse development
The court noted in its antitrust ruling that Apple has the “financial, technical and human resources” to develop its own search engine but has not yet done so because of the revenue it receives from Google. Apple has indeed been rumored to be developing a search engine for years.
In November 2022, “The Information” reported that Apple has been developing an online search engine since 2022, but it will take at least four years to launch such a product. Apple has a dedicated search team responsible for Spotlight, Siri suggestions, and content search tools provided by Siri.
Apple may transform its Spotlight technology into an online search function, or use Apple smart technology. With changes to Siri and the development of AI technology in 2024 and 2025, iPhone, iPad and Mac users may gradually shift from traditional web searches to rely more on other search tools.
The need for self-development
If the court ultimately rules that Google can no longer pay Apple to make Google’s search engine the default search engine for Safari, it will eliminate Apple’s financial incentive to prioritize Google’s search engine.
In Europe, this is already happening because of the requirements of digital market law. Apple allows iPhone users to select the browser as a default option during device setup, providing an alternative to Safari. So a U.S. court may require a similar setup process that allows users to choose a search engine from a list when they first start the device.
If the Justice Department and courts are correct that Apple’s deal with Google prevents Apple from developing its own search engine, stopping payments could prompt Apple to develop search products. Apparently, Apple is unlikely to form a partnership with Bing or other companies, or even buy a search engine, because it believes that all non-Google options are not good enough. Based on what we know so far, without Google’s revenue, Apple’s best move may be to get into search itself.
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