Google CEO Pichai testifies in court: We once asked Apple to preload Search on iOS
As you probably have figured out by now if you're an iPhone user, Apple does not allow third-party firms to have their apps pre-loaded on iOS. The YouTube and Google Maps apps that were pre-loaded on the iPhone were created by Apple and removed in iOS 6. Google Maps was famously replaced by the original iteration of Apple Maps, a disaster if there ever was one. But that's a story for another day.
Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified Monday in DC District Court as the U.S. vs. Google antitrust trial continued. No surprise, the executive's testimony mostly revolved around the deal that Google has with Apple to be the default search engine on Safari. The judge will have to determine if the deal with Apple dampens competition in the search engine market.
Google Search on the original iPhone in 2007. Image credit-Search Engine Land
During his testimony, Pichai revealed that he and Apple CEO Tim Cook meet once a year to discuss how the arrangement is working out for both firms. On the stand, Pichai said that in 2018 Apple was concerned about a drop in revenue from the deal it has with Google because of a drop in traffic to Google Search on iOS. According to The Verge, notes written after a meeting between Google and Apple pointed out that "Google is not in control of the amount or type of traffic received by Safari; Apple is."
According to emailed notes related to the meeting five years ago between the two CEOs and shared with the court by Google's partnerships executive Don Harrison, "When discussing how to encourage search, [Pichai] spoke about the fact that this is what we do — people trust us to get this right and trust us with the content of what they are searching for — and weaved in them considering us building an app or other experience that people associate with us and connect to us (vs. flowing through Siri/suggest.) Tim listened but did not react to this specifically other than noting we had different strengths."
Pichai was asked about the emails in court and stated, "We said one of the things that works well on Android, which drives increased usage, is a Google Search application. So I proposed that we could build a Google search application for iOS... and we would be committed to supporting the product for many years." But allowing Google Search to be pre-loaded on iOS was considered too fraught with danger to consider. With billions and billions at stake, neither Google nor Apple wanted to do anything that might stop the cash from flowing.
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