Apple is stepping into defend Google in its upcoming antitrust trial. Reportedly, the iPhone maker said that it cannot rely on Google to defend revenue-sharing agreements which entail sending Apple billions of dollars each year for making Google the default search engine on its Safari browser. In 2022 alone, Apple received an estimated $20 billion from its agreement with Google.
"Google can no longer adequately represent Apple's interests: Google must now defend against a broad effort to break up its business units," Apple said in a statement.
READ: Google counters antitrust ruling with list of solutions (December 24, 2024)
Since 2020, Google has been facing a landmark antitrust trial filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), accusing the company of illegally maintaining a monopoly in the search engine market. In August, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google uses anti-competitive practices, such as paying device makers like Apple and Samsung to make Google Search the default, hindering competition.
This trial is part of a broader effort by regulators to address concerns over big tech's market power. The outcome could significantly impact Google's business practices and digital competition in the future.
Recently, Google countered the antitrust ruling with its own list of solutions such as for a period of three years, Google's proposal would stop the company from making deals where it ties licenses for its services like Chrome, Search, and Google Play to the requirement that other apps like Google Assistant or Gemini AI are also pre-installed or prioritized.
However, it would still let Google pay for its search engine to be the default in web browsers. The difference is that Google would have to make separate deals for different browsers or platforms, and the terms of these deals would need to be reviewed at least once a year.
According to a new court filing this week spotted by Reuters, Eddy Cue, Apple's Senior Vice President of Services, declared Apple itself would never develop its own search engine.
Cue said that the court believes the proposed remedies in the antitrust case would lead Apple to "develop its own search engine or enter the Search Text Ad market" and compete with Google's dominance. Cue, however, says "that assumption is wrong."
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"Apple is focused on other growth areas. The development of a search engine would require diverting both capital investment and employees because creating a search engine would cost billions of dollars and take many years," Cue added, outlining reasons for why Apple would not develop its own search engine.
"A viable search engine would require building a platform to sell targeted advertising, which is not a core business of Apple. Although Apple does have some niche advertising, such as on the App Store platform, search advertising is different and outside of Apple's core expertise," Cue said.
Apple's enthusiasm to defend Google may be due to the fact that the trial could lead to broader antitrust scrutiny of Apple's own practices, particularly its App Store policies and pre-installed apps, affecting its market strategies and regulatory landscape. Either way, it looks like Apple has a lot more at stake than it is letting on.