Apple may be facing plenty of criticism and controversies with its Google Search payments but that does not mean they’re going anywhere, anytime soon, reports 9to5Mac.
The payments that comprise billions are done by Google to the tech giant as a means of making sure the former stays as the company’s search engine by default.
Global analysts claim that although the massive payment is giving Apple a profit worth 3%, it’s staying put for a couple of years, if not longer.
But the news comes at a time when it continues to face major threats from anti-trust laws who feel the move is unfair for obvious reasons.
What we do know is that neither tech giants have even gone public with what the actual sum of money comprises. But what we do know is that Apple uses the funds for its Services subset.
A recent amount has come into the limelight of so many people and that entails figures ranging from anywhere between the $18 billion and $20 billion mark. And that’s only for this year.
If you happen to have an Apple device, you may have immediately noticed how typing any URL redirects you to Google immediately and that’s related to the simple fact that it’s set up this way by default.
Unless you have actually made the painstaking effort to make a change, your search engine is bound to be Google and that’s the service that Google is paying Apple for.
Remember, it’s definitely in the search engine’s benefit, considering the massive search traffic generated through Apple’s long list of devices. Did we mention that is the platform where the company is busy displaying its ads and generating revenue?
In 2014, the world first witnessed this reality when one particular court case shed light on the earnings that Apple was making. At that time, the sum was outlined to be $ 1 billion. Hence, you can only imagine how much that’s increased over time.
But why are these payments so controversial? What do they have to do with anti-trust actions in the first place? Well, the answer is straightforward.
Apple has always bragged about one thing and that is how much it values the privacy of its users. Moreover, it wouldn’t be wrong as deeming that is the main selling point for its products across the board.
And now, we’re seeing a deal come out of the blue with the world’s leading search engine that generates revenue based on a collection of user data. Clearly, someone is missing out on the whole point of privacy protection and it’s definitely Apple.
It’s no wonder why we’re seeing the tech giant face a plethora of threats in this regard. Look, firstly, it has to do with hypocrisy at its finest. Why promise something when you know you couldn’t fulfill it.
Last year, the company’s privacy director was in the hot seat when she failed to explain the real reason why Google was Apple’s default search engine and not DuckDuckGo.
The response was related to how the settings could be changed and also how Google was the world’s most popular search engine. But the real answer was related to the company receiving payments from Google which obviously she forgot to reveal.
Secondly, the lucrative deal might be seeing a blockage anytime soon. Why, well, it violates users’ privacy. And last year, we saw the tech giant facing a mega lawsuit after it was called out for the deal being a hazard for other competitors in the search engine market. And that included all the advertisers that are partnered with Google too.
Now, we’re seeing more and more people actually understand how serious of a matter this is. Recently, competition regulating bodies had their say. These global regulators feel they just might need to step in and take action against Apple too for the same reasons. And one example could be the EU Digital Markets Act outlawing this entire deal altogether.
Clearly, the threat is very real but we don’t see any major legal action taking effect for years. Remember, it’s been going on for a while now and let’s not forget how the firms can also challenge the case in court too.
Read next: Apple's iPhone 13 Shows Massive Growth in Q1 of 2022 With 51% Market Share in Selected Regions
The payments that comprise billions are done by Google to the tech giant as a means of making sure the former stays as the company’s search engine by default.
Global analysts claim that although the massive payment is giving Apple a profit worth 3%, it’s staying put for a couple of years, if not longer.
But the news comes at a time when it continues to face major threats from anti-trust laws who feel the move is unfair for obvious reasons.
What we do know is that neither tech giants have even gone public with what the actual sum of money comprises. But what we do know is that Apple uses the funds for its Services subset.
A recent amount has come into the limelight of so many people and that entails figures ranging from anywhere between the $18 billion and $20 billion mark. And that’s only for this year.
If you happen to have an Apple device, you may have immediately noticed how typing any URL redirects you to Google immediately and that’s related to the simple fact that it’s set up this way by default.
Unless you have actually made the painstaking effort to make a change, your search engine is bound to be Google and that’s the service that Google is paying Apple for.
Remember, it’s definitely in the search engine’s benefit, considering the massive search traffic generated through Apple’s long list of devices. Did we mention that is the platform where the company is busy displaying its ads and generating revenue?
In 2014, the world first witnessed this reality when one particular court case shed light on the earnings that Apple was making. At that time, the sum was outlined to be $ 1 billion. Hence, you can only imagine how much that’s increased over time.
But why are these payments so controversial? What do they have to do with anti-trust actions in the first place? Well, the answer is straightforward.
Apple has always bragged about one thing and that is how much it values the privacy of its users. Moreover, it wouldn’t be wrong as deeming that is the main selling point for its products across the board.
And now, we’re seeing a deal come out of the blue with the world’s leading search engine that generates revenue based on a collection of user data. Clearly, someone is missing out on the whole point of privacy protection and it’s definitely Apple.
It’s no wonder why we’re seeing the tech giant face a plethora of threats in this regard. Look, firstly, it has to do with hypocrisy at its finest. Why promise something when you know you couldn’t fulfill it.
Last year, the company’s privacy director was in the hot seat when she failed to explain the real reason why Google was Apple’s default search engine and not DuckDuckGo.
The response was related to how the settings could be changed and also how Google was the world’s most popular search engine. But the real answer was related to the company receiving payments from Google which obviously she forgot to reveal.
Secondly, the lucrative deal might be seeing a blockage anytime soon. Why, well, it violates users’ privacy. And last year, we saw the tech giant facing a mega lawsuit after it was called out for the deal being a hazard for other competitors in the search engine market. And that included all the advertisers that are partnered with Google too.
Now, we’re seeing more and more people actually understand how serious of a matter this is. Recently, competition regulating bodies had their say. These global regulators feel they just might need to step in and take action against Apple too for the same reasons. And one example could be the EU Digital Markets Act outlawing this entire deal altogether.
Clearly, the threat is very real but we don’t see any major legal action taking effect for years. Remember, it’s been going on for a while now and let’s not forget how the firms can also challenge the case in court too.
Read next: Apple's iPhone 13 Shows Massive Growth in Q1 of 2022 With 51% Market Share in Selected Regions
