During the ongoing U.S. antitrust trial, a Microsoft executive, Mikhail Parakhin, testified that Apple never seriously considered replacing Google with Microsoft’s Bing as the default search engine on its devices.
Instead, Apple allegedly used the possibility of making Bing the default as a “bargaining chip” to negotiate larger payments from Google. Apple is estimated to receive between $15 billion to $20 billion annually from Google in revenue-sharing payments for making Google the default search engine on its devices.
The U.S. Department of Justice has accused Google of using similar agreements to stifle competition and lock out rival search engines. The trial began in September and is expected to continue into November.
Another witness in the trial, Alexander Austin, the founder of startup Branch Metrics, claimed that Google’s exclusive contracts with phone companies and equipment manufacturers hindered his company’s efforts to market a search engine for smartphone apps.
Branch Metrics had to limit its product’s capabilities to avoid violating Google’s agreements with companies like Samsung and Verizon, which made Google’s search engine the default choice on digital devices.
As a result, Branch Metrics couldn’t monetize its app search engine effectively. The trial’s outcome could have significant implications for Google’s market power and the default search engine landscape on various devices.