Anurag Kumar
Years before he became Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai voiced his reservations regarding the company’s cooperation with Apple’s search engine. Pichai has previously expressed concern about Google’s “bad optics” in his role as head of the team that was responsible for developing the Chrome web browser in 2007. According to reports from the Justice Department, Google pays Apple $10 billion year to ensure that it is the pre-installed search engine on all Apple products, including the iPhone.
According to evidence provided by the Justice Department during the ongoing antitrust trial, Pichai sent emails to Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 2007 outlining how the arrangement with Apple may damage the user’s experience on browsers. The emails were written to emphasize how the agreement with Apple could affect the user’s experience.
“I am aware that we are urging that default be used, but at the same time, I believe that we ought to push them to have Yahoo as a choice on the pull down menu or some other simple option. Pichai stated his thoughts on the matter in an email, writing that “I don’t think it is a good user experience nor the optics is great for us to be the only provider in the browser.”
Statements from top executives of other technology companies, such as Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, and DuckDuckGo, have been included in the continuing litigation. These executives have shared their experiences with Alphabet’s search business and the competition it faces. In an effort to draw attention to the benefit that Apple is providing to Google, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella said in court that “it would be a game changer” for Bing to be the default search engine on Safari.
While this is going on, Google is attempting to defend itself in the ongoing trial by stating that users choose to use its search engine because it is superior to those of its competitors. The legal representatives for the corporation have stated that they do not believe the allegations that default status plays a significant influence in the company’s access to the market. The legal team representing Google contends that users can quickly switch their search engine with just a few clicks of the mouse.
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Notably, Apple’s Safari web browser has used Google as its default search engine ever since the browser’s release in 2002. The year 2021 saw a renegotiation of the cooperation between Google and Apple.
