Google reportedly pays Apple $9 billion/year to remain the iPhone’s default search engine

[The_Tron]

Yep, you read that right.

 

 

Google reportedly pays Apple $9 billion/year to remain the iPhone’s default search engine

 

When Apple first introduced the iPhone, the decision to use Google as the default search engine on mobile Safari was essentially a no-brainer. After all, Google was unquestionably the dominant search engine at the time and Microsoft’s Bing wouldn’t even arrive on the scene until June of 2009. Despite increased competition with respect to search over the past few years, there’s no denying that Google is still the best search engine on the planet. That said, Apple has for some time now let iOS users change the default search engine on mobile Safari to Bing or DuckDuckGo.

 

 

Google’s prominence in mobile Safari, though, isn’t a benefit Apple bestows upon the search giant free of charge. On the contrary, Google pays a lot of money to enjoy its status as the default search engine on the iPhone and iPad. Hardly a surprise, the bulk of Google’s revenue still comes from search-based advertising and the company has long been willing to pay somewhat astronomical fees in order to remain front and center on mobile Safari.

 

 

As to how much Google pays for that privilege, well, that’s an interesting story. The only official number we’ve seen comes from a 2014 court document which revealed that Google at the time was paying Apple $1 billion a year for default search engine status.

 

 

Since then, analysts have claimed that the annual fee has jumped considerably, with a report from last year relaying that Google in 2017 paid Apple upwards of $3 billion. That said, Goldman Sachs analyst Rod Hall now claims that Google may be paying Apple as much as $9 billion in 2018 to keep its search engine front and center for iOS users. Keep in mind that Hall’s figure — which was originally brought to light by Business Insider — is nothing more than an estimate as both Google and Apple remain tight-lipped on the issue. In any event, Hall claims that the annual fee Google pays out to Apple is on the rise due to an increase in the number of Google searches that originate via Siri. Looking ahead, Hall writes that Google could end up paying Apple as much as $12 billion in 2019 to keep Google as the default search option.

 

 

Hall’s figures seem remarkably high, so you’ll definitely want to take his report with a requisite grain of salt. Either way, the relationship between Apple and Google in this regard is as mutually beneficial as can be. From Apple’s perspective, they’re getting what essentially amounts to free money. And Google, on the other hand, enjoys prime placement amongst iPhone and iPad users who, on average, are more coveted amongst advertisers.

 

Source: https://bgr.com/2018/09/28/google-search-iphone-default-9-billion-year/

 

I have no quotes, but many sources. Hopefully this will clear any doubt of reliability.

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/aapl-share-price-google-pays-apple-9-billion-annually-tac-goldman-2018-9

https://9to5mac.com/2018/09/28/google-paying-apple-9-billion-default-seach-engine/

https://searchengineland.com/report-google-to-pay-apple-9-billion-to-remain-default-search-engine-on-safari-306082

[PineyCreek]

Heaven forbid they use Bing.

[The_Tron]

Just now, PineyCreek said:

Heaven forbid they use Bing.

 

For a time, they actually kinda did.

 

Quote

"In June 2013 Apple made Bing the default search engine for Siri but not for the Safari browser on the iPhone. Google replaced Bing as the source of web search results for Siri in 2017."

 

Source: https://searchengineland.com/report-google-to-pay-apple-9-billion-to-remain-default-search-engine-on-safari-306082

 

[GoldenLag]

Google, saving us from Siri and bad searchengines.

 

Though Bing is quite an success. 

[abazigal]

Well, it's free money for Apple either way, since most users are going to prefer google search anyways. 

[TOMPPIX]

that's fucking creepy. 

[ScratchCat]

Yet Mozilla only gets around $500 million.

 

Google if you want to pay a lot of money to a company, pay the company which doesn't count $9 billion as pocket change.

[DrMacintosh]

Thanks Google.....but no thanks

[D13H4RD]

3 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Thanks Google.....but no thanks

Why not use DuckDuckGo?

[DrMacintosh]

42 minutes ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

Why not use DuckDuckGo?

Because they don’t pay me :3 

[PlayStation 2]

lowkey should switch that to duckduckgo

then again I don't use siri nor safari so that's completely pointless

[elfensky]

48 minutes ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

Why not use DuckDuckGo?

Because I want actually relevant results, not random strings containing the query ^^ (throws shade at ddg) (then again, rather ddg than bing or heavens forbid, Yahoo.)

[TetraSky]

Do they even need to do that though?
Most people will initiate a search, see it's not through google and will change their default search engine right away.

[DrMacintosh]

59 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

Do they even need to do that though?
Most people will initiate a search, see it's not through google and will change their default search engine right away.

Yes. Most people use the default. That’s why Bing has popularity. Edge. 

[suicidalfranco]

 

4 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

Thanks Google.....but no thanks

now do it on Siri

[DrMacintosh]

17 minutes ago, suicidalfranco said:

 

now do it on Siri

Do what on Siri?

[suicidalfranco]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Do what on Siri?

switch seach engine

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, suicidalfranco said:

switch seach engine

Siri already uses Bing for images and pretty sure she uses your selected search engine. 

[S w a t s o n]

really surprised google pays apple, they dont really need to be paying anyone for increased traffic at this point. Besides who wants to use bing?

[W-L]

@The_Tron Please note the news section does have certain requirements for threads to qualify as this falls short of that. An opinion or point of discussion and short summary of the article in question would make it acceptable. As of currently it has been moved to the Phones and Tablets section until modified.