In 2018, Microsoft attempted to sell Bing to Apple, but the deal fell through due to concerns about Bing’s search quality, advertising structure, and monetization capabilities. Google claims this shows that Bing is inferior and not a result of Google’s unfair practices in the search market.
Apple rejected Microsoft’s proposal to either sell Bing or create a joint venture. Apple’s senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue, cited Bing’s lower search quality and lack of investment compared to Google as reasons for the rejection.
Google argues that Apple’s decision to stick with Google as the default search engine for Safari users demonstrates Google’s superiority in search quality. Google also claims that Microsoft repeatedly tried to make Bing the default search engine on Apple’s Safari web browser but was consistently rejected due to performance concerns.
Microsoft denies that the failed sale to Apple was due to Bing’s quality issues and blames Google for blocking the deal. Microsoft claims it offered Apple a better deal than Google but was rejected due to Apple’s existing agreement with Google.
The U.S. Justice Department alleges that Google pays Apple around $10 billion a year to be the default search engine on its products. If Apple did not receive these payments, it might have developed its own search engine. This financial agreement is why Apple turned down a joint venture with Microsoft, according to the DOJ.
The U.S. Justice Department is suing Google for unfair practices to maintain its dominance in the search market. Google’s market share is 90%, while Bing holds only 3% globally.
The outcome of the antitrust trial could impact Google’s status as the default search engine on Apple products. If Google loses, it could face a threat to its dominance in the search market. For more updates on the Google antitrust trial, read the Google antitrust trial updates.
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