Microsoft Corp Was Willing To Drop Bing Name To Nab Apple Search Deal
by Abdul Aziz Mondal Business 03 October 2023
“Microsoft Corp. is willing to hide the search engine’s “Bing” brand on all Apple Inc. devices to be able to secure an agreement with the makers of the iPhone and unseat Google,as testified by Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella on Monday.
Taking a stand at Google’s antitrust trial, Nadella described all the limits that his company wishes to go and become the default search engine for Apple, a position that Google is currently enjoying. That included providing “strategic flexibility” on branding the search engine and, at the same time, encouraging Apple to look at its technologies independently and not with the Bing brand.
The testimony served as a part of the Department of Justice Trial against Google, which the government said has used its domination of search engines to cancel competition and hurt the consumers. The agreement of the company with Apple plays a central part in the case. Google has been paying millions of dollars every year to remain as the default option for all Apple devices, while Microsoft has consistently failed to secure a more attractive deal.
Getting that default tag from Apple would be a game-changing move, as Nadella said. “Whomever they choose, they king-make.”
Nadella has, however, made inroads with Apple in between 2013 and 2017, when the iPhone brand decided to replace Google as the search engine that powers Siri and the Spotlight feature on its devices. Apple, however, never really ditched Google as the default in its web browser Safari and reverted back to Google in the other areas after just four years.
The talks about dropping the Bing Brand happened in between the negotiations in 2018. The arrangements would have meant Safari search results would be powered by Bing, only under an alternative brand.
Nadella mentioned that he has “tried to replace Google as Apple’s default search engine every year since he became CEO in 2014. In earlier testimony Monday, he said Apple used Microsoft to “bid up the price” it gets paid by Google.”“Do you think Google would continue to pay Apple if there was no search competition? Why would they do that?” he added.
Read Also: