Google is facing a historic legal battle against the U.S. government in a generational antitrust case that questions the company's dominance in internet search and its contracts with device makers, including a lucrative deal with Apple.
The Justice Department's antitrust trial against Google began with claims that the company pursued agreements to be the default search engine on mobile devices, while Google argued that its search engine's quality was the primary reason for such agreements.
Google's defense in a federal antitrust trial claims that switching search engines is as easy as putting a box of cereal back on a store shelf, but a panel of designers found that it is actually difficult and most people would likely give up before completing the change.
DuckDuckGo CEO testifies in federal court that Google's exclusive contracts hindered the search engine's efforts to become the default for private browsing modes in other browsers.
The Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, alleging that the company's billion-dollar deals to be the default search engine on smartphones have created a monopoly, and if the trial is successful, Google may be forced to break up its various businesses.
Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue is expected to testify in court that Apple chose Google as the default search engine on the iPhone because it was the best product and that Apple has revenue-sharing agreements with other search engines, shedding light on Google's licensing agreements and the accusation of monopolizing online search.
Google, once a simple search engine, has evolved into a giant corporation with a diverse range of services and products, but its lack of focus and clarity on its direction has led to a quarter-life crisis and an apparent neglect of its core products and competition, making it appear unreliable and causing a loss of customer confidence.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified in an antitrust trial that Google's dominant search engine position is due to default deals with smartphone makers, arguing that user choice is "completely bogus" and defaults are the key factor in search behavior.
Google, founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, started as a search engine called BackRub and used Lego servers, and now dominates the internet with over 8.5 billion daily searches and revenues exceeding $200 billion annually.
Apple has the potential to compete with Google in building a search engine, as it has a strong search team and has developed a next-generation search engine called "Pegasus," but currently, Apple benefits from the $15 billion annual payment it receives from Google to keep Google Search as the default on Safari.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified that Apple's selection of its default search engine holds significant influence, revealing that Microsoft was willing to obscure its search engine brand to unseat Google as Apple's default search engine.
Apple has turned down opportunities to challenge Google's search engine dominance, including the chance to purchase Bing and make DuckDuckGo the default for Safari's private browsing mode, according to court transcripts unsealed in the US government's antitrust lawsuit against Google.
Apple considered replacing Google with DuckDuckGo as its default search engine in private browsing mode, according to recent testimony by DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg in the Department of Justice's antitrust case against Google.
Apple executive John Giannandrea dismissed the idea of making DuckDuckGo the default search engine in Safari's private browsing mode due to concerns about its privacy claims and reliance on Bing, according to unsealed transcripts from the US antitrust trial over Google search.
The antitrust case against Google puts the annual payment it makes to Apple for being the default search engine at risk, which constitutes 14-16% of Apple's profits, but Bernstein analysts believe Apple has options to mitigate the potential impact, such as partnering with another search engine or launching its own.
Apple's long-standing and lucrative agreement with Google to have it as the default search engine on Safari across its products has prevented Apple from developing its own search product and solidifies Google's dominance in the search industry, according to evidence presented in the US v. Google antitrust trial.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressed concerns about the optics of Google's deal with Apple, which made Google the pre-selected search option on Apple's Safari browser, according to emails introduced as evidence in the Justice Department's antitrust case against Google.
If regulators win the antitrust trial against Google, it could lead to significant changes that diminish the dominance of the search engine and open up new avenues for competition and consumer choice in online services.
