Will Apple dump Google and move in with Bing or Yahoo?
Mozilla Corp. had already kicked its longtime search partner Google to the curb last week, begging the question, will Google suffer another major rebuff in 2015? The next break up could be from Apple Inc., a partner reportedly collecting a staggering $1 billion a year from Google to keep their iOS device relationship intact.
A recent report by The Information says the break-up is likely, stating that the recently transformed Microsoft Bing, along with Yahoo! Inc., have already made a play to power search for Apple’s Safari browser. The report says that Apple’s SVP, Eddy Cue, has already been in talks with the two companies about dumping Google as the default search provider for the iPhone, iPad and Mac computers.
Apple and Google have been moving apart for some time, as seen by Apple’s ditching of certain Google services in favor of their own native apps like Maps and turn-by-turn navigation. Nonetheless, the vast majority of Google’s phone-search revenue has been coming from Apple.
So what kind of a deal could Yahoo and Microsoft put on the table that encourages Apple to move on? That remains unclear, though the report indicates that Yahoo could be a top contender following its Mozilla deal – the two companies have had good relations in the past. Microsoft makes a strong case as well, as Bing is already the search engine for iOS’s personal assistant, Siri. In terms of desktop searches, Apple’s OS X Yosemite and Microsoft’s Spotlight already keep Google out of the picture, offering users Bing results only.
There’s no doubt that the two great competitors are involved in a very hard-to-break relationship. Google Android might be the most dominant smartphone platform in the U.S., but iOS smartphones take the most web traffic: 53.1 percent to Android’s 44.5 percent. In terms of global web traffic however, Apple is now, for the first time, behind Android, according to reports earlier this year.
It will surely be an exciting fight, because whoever wins is certain to make a ton of money from search ads on Apple’s ever-popular products. If Apple chooses another partner it would be a blow to Google, who could possibly see their huge lead in the search engine war reduced.
Photo credit: woodleywonderworks via photopin cc
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