Apple has a lot of plans for 2025 but a search engine is not on the list.
In a declaration filed with a US federal court this week, first spotted by Reuters, Apple SVP of Services, Eddy Cue, says the company does not plan to create a search engine.
It’s part of Apple’s motion to intervene in the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Google, which is now in the penalty phase. To address Google’s monopoly over web services and search advertising, the DOJ has called for measures including a ban on payments to smartphone manufacturers for making Google’s search engine the default on their devices.
That would be very costly for Apple. In 2022 alone, Apple received $20 billion from Google to make its search engine the default on the Safari browser.
According to Cue, eliminating that payment would benefit Google and harm Apple. “If this Court prohibits Google from sharing revenue for search distribution, Apple would have two unacceptable choices,” Cue says. “It could still let users in the United States choose Google as a search engine for Safari, but Apple could not receive any share of the resulting revenue, so Google would obtain valuable access to Apple’s users at no cost. But because customers prefer Google, removing it as an option would harm both Apple and its customers.”
The DOJ has made the “erroneous assumption” that absent a mobile search deal with Google, Apple will simply enter the search market itself, Apple says.
Cue outlines three reasons why that’s not possible for Apple. First, it is expensive. Second, the rapid developments in AI and its integration with search make it an “economically risky” prospect. Third, Cue says Apple lacks the number of specialized professionals required to run a search advertising business successfully.
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Google has a “hearing on remedies” (or what it thinks should happen in this case) scheduled for April 2025. According to Reuters, Apple has asked for permission to call its own witnesses at that April hearing since Google has its hands full.
“Google can no longer adequately represent Apple’s interests: Google must now defend against a broad effort to break up its business units,” Apple says.
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About Jibin Joseph
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