It’s a well-known secret, or not, that Google pays Apple billions of dollar to keep the position of default search engine on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. However, neither companies have officially verified this claim.
However, a new class action lawsuit claims that there is more to this deal between Google and Apple than the information that is publically available.
The lawsuit alleged that these companies has entered into a non-disclosed mutual agreement which seems to be beneficial for them while violating the antitrust rules. It even goes as far to suggest that Apple and Google should be split up into smaller businesses for breaking monopoly rules in the United States.
Google pays Apple to not develop its own default search engine which is against the antitrust rules of United States.
Google was the Iphone’s default search engine, when it was first released in 2007. However in 2012, Bing, became the default search engine for iOS and macOS. In 2017, the decision was reversed and google once again become the default search engine.
Apple is one of the big name in tech industry and definitely possess the resources to develop its own search engine but the non-disclosed agreement between these two companies prohibits Apple to compete against google.
While the exact amount Google pays Apple is unknown, The New York Times reported in 2020 that it may be anywhere between $8 and $12 billion each year.
It’s unlikely that this lawsuit will go too far to see the light of the day as it is most likely to be settled by the companies’ lawyer paying hefty sum to dismiss the news. As for now it remains uncertain that, whether Apple will launch its search engine or not.
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