Based on recently unsealed testimony, it appears Apple seriously considered supplanting Google as its go-to search engine for private browsing on their products with DuckDuckGo. The testimony of DuckDuckGo's CEO gave further details than had been previously enlightened about how far Apple went to consider breaking its bond with Google in private search. It was commented upon by Weinberg that Apple's contract with Google to be the default search engine on Safari was a ubiquitous matter of discussion. on iOS
Apple once considered replacing Google as its default search engine in private browsing mode on its products with DuckDuckGo, as evidenced by the recently unsealed testimony of the rival search provider's CEO. Gabriel Weinberg, CEO of DuckDuckGo, said in the transcript that the company had "about 20 meetings and phone calls" lasting from 2016 to 2019 and that the "people we were talking to were generally DuckDuckGo users themselves interested in privacy." The Department of Justice is using this case as a way to prove that Google's exclusive contracts with phone and browser makers unfairly locked out rivals from the search market, a claim which Google has denied.
Weinberg mentioned that, during the negotiations, the contract with Google was "often the elephant in the room." DuckDuckGo offers a privacy-focused search engine that competes directly with Google, as well as other products that aim to limit how websites track consumers across the web. After a successful meeting with a senior vice president at Apple's headquarters in 2017, during which they had presented data on what Apple users wanted, Weinberg had felt the meeting went very well.
However, the subsequent testimony from Apple's side tells a different story. The senior vice president of machine learning/artificial intelligence, and a former Google executive, John Giannandrea, stated that he was not aware of Apple considering the switch of default search engines. He further voiced concerns about how DuckDuckGo would have to share some user information with Microsoft, due to their arrangement with Bing, but DuckDuckGo insists that they prevent their hosting and content providers from creating a history of searches and browsing.
After the 2018 Christmas holidays, DuckDuckGo received documentation from Apple showing the revenue share they would receive if they were made the default. The company estimated that its market share would multiply if this happened, but by summer 2019 the proposal was no longer under consideration. The same holds true for DuckDuckGo's negotiation attempts with Samsung, Mozilla and Opera, as Google's contract with these companies was the key thing keeping a deal from happening.
Comments