The Story
Actually, back in 2001, when the tech giant was just three years old as a firm, Larry and Sergey promised Steve Jobs the post of Google’s CEO. However, Jobs declined the offer due to his commitments to Apple and Pixar. Despite this, Jobs kept on mentoring Google. If you’re wondering why Jobs would provide a hand to a firm that would eventually become their biggest rival, consider that, at the time, Google was focused only on the search market and was having its own difficulties competing with Yahoo as well as other comparable firms. Apple’s cooperation with Google was malicious since the two firms had a common goal of reducing Microsoft’s market position in computers and related services. Apple and Google benefited greatly from one another’s offerings as a result of their partnership. Due to the inclusion of YouTube as well as Google Maps as native stock applications on the initial iPhone, Google’s then-CEO Eric Schmidt entered Apple’s board of shareholders in 2006. To top it all off, Eric Schmidt got his very own spotlight at the iPhone launch ceremony, where he effusively gushed over the new gadget.
But Why?
Those days of puppy love, however, are long behind. The two companies have been fierce competitors for almost 15 years. In addition, what could be worse than competing against a once-beloved acquaintance who is now an adversary? Having to fork up $15 billion a year! While Apple is well-known for its hardware, software, and service subscriptions, Google is known for much more. What was formerly a website dedicated to doing searches is now one of its most valuable assets. Google’s average annual search advertising-income is approximately $100 billion. The amount is five times greater than what Yahoo produces. And Google compensates Apple double as much as Yahoo does for the same amount of revenue. Truth be told, the sum of $15 billion is the largest sum ever paid by Google to any firm.
Google is forced to pay Apple $15 Billion per year to hold its position as a default search engine on Apple’s safari. To put it another way, Google would lose about $50 billion every year if Apple decided to establish its own search engine or go for other search engines above Google as the default choice. And you can bet Google is cognizant of just how terrifying that potential is. Apple has a proven track record of establishing absurdist market trends. Customers of Apple products are likely to choose DuckDuckGo if the business declares it the default search engine.
