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Google loses antitrust suit over search deals on phones

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Re: Google loses antitrust suit over search deals on phones

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to sworn testimony, Apple got over 20 billion dollars from Google in 2022. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-01/google-s-...

That's to have Google be default. It doesn't explain why it's impossible to add others to the list.

I can think of 20 billion reasons.

Re: Google loses antitrust suit over search deals on phones

#172
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So what's going to happen? Apple might make their own search engine. Apple has a team that's been creating a next-generation search engine codenamed Pegasus under John Giannandrea. They already have search engines for App Store, Maps, Apple TV and News and Spotlight. Apple web search development worked as bargaining chip in pricing negotiations with Google. Google paid them $20 billion per year to not compete as mu…

Yeah, the calculus is simple. You just lose 20 billion in potential pure profits. Google is paying you 34% of all search revenue originated by you. You have all the financial structure of your own search engine right there. Just make your own damn search engine. You could even put Google's own ads on it to make some money that way.

God forbid their advertising looks anything like it does in Apple News. But with their recent Taboola deal it would seem like their standards are falling, not rising.

Re: Google loses antitrust suit over search deals on phones

#173
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised Kagi Search wasn't mentioned once in the ruling given that it's the most compelling Google competitor on the market.

Tell me you live in a tech bubble without telling me you live in a tech bubble.

I do deep research for a living and it's the only search engine I've tried that returns superior results over Google Search.

Re: Google loses antitrust suit over search deals on phones

#174
post #2

This could be bad for Mozilla?

IMO, this is the best think that could happen for Firefox. Mozilla as an organization has been thoroughly corrupted by huge buckets of money being thrown at them by Google. "The Resource Curse" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse) doesn't only apply to countries.

Re: Google loses antitrust suit over search deals on phones

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to sworn testimony, Apple got over 20 billion dollars from Google in 2022. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-01/google-s-...

That's to have Google be default. It doesn't explain why it's impossible to add others to the list.

I think the circumstantial evidence is sufficient to figure it out.

Re: Google loses antitrust suit over search deals on phones

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would have been fine if Google was not a monopoly. The key part of the ruling is that judge agrees Google is a monopoly. And it's behavior is maintaining the monopoly illegally. Because it's a monopoly, and paying over the odds for these placements, it does not allow for a competitive marketplace. These payments create significant barriers to entry for other companies to even try and increase their market share…

Presumably these deals with Google will be nullified, but can the various browsers just make new deals with someone else? Can Microsoft just just swoop in and make a deal with Apple/Mozilla/Samsung? Mozilla is going to be desperate to find a new partner...

Dont think Apple would make a deal with any other engine. They basically used Microsoft to get a good deal with Google, but never had any intention to use Microsoft.

The thing is the deals are a revenue sharing deal - Google gives 1/3 of the revenue to Apple. With microsoft, the number could be 100% and would still not reach a significant number for Apple. Mozilla would jump at it, and I hope Google still invests in them as part of a grant or something while not getting anything in return.

Re: Google loses antitrust suit over search deals on phones

#177

We face a number of challenges simply letting our paying customers change their search engine: 1. On iOS the list of allowed search engines is simply baked into OS, we have a fiddly extension that hooks outbound calls to /search and redirects them but I wish we didn't need to. 2. On Chrome, we use an extension to change the default search engine and enable search auto-complete etc, but Google has a policy that such a…

1. That sounds like an Apple issue, not a Google issue

2. That sounds perfectly reasonable. Google doesn't want people to bundle other things for users who want to install just a different default search (and not "your hotbar" like the Netscape days).

3. I'm not sure what you're talking about, is Chrome on Linux default search configured differently than Chrome on Windows?

Re: Google loses antitrust suit over search deals on phones

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Orion exclusively because Kagi is the default search engine. It does have a few more bugs than chrome / safari, but they're well worth putting up with to get native Kagi support. Thank you. It's interesting though - what is Apple's vested interest in only having native support for certain search engines? I now no longer use their browser because of this - I would think that is _some_ kind of loss for them. Mayb…

According to sworn testimony, Apple got over 20 billion dollars from Google in 2022. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-01/google-s-...

That doesn't mean all Apple users use it.

Re: Google loses antitrust suit over search deals on phones

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those disagreeing, the power of defaults is incredibly powerful , most users are blissfully unaware on how to, or why they might want to change them. Sure, plenty will change it back, but many won't. We've seen this play out with Apple Maps already — Something that may get Apple in trouble too. Remember that Google was paying Apple 20 BILLION for the privilege, and a key reason they had an antitrust case against…

No, defaults aren't incredibly powerful. Chrome utterly dominates Edge on Windows, despite Edge being default. How do you explain that? The reality is that people know what they like, and most will switch to the thing they like most. Especially when it costs nothing.

On top of that, the mindshare of "Googling it" dominates users brains just as much as Kleenex branding does. I'm sure most of us have watched someone use another search engine to look up Google before.
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