Speaking in federal court, Cue shed some light on the estimated $19 billion per year that Google is believed to be paying Apple under the agreement to.
What just happened? Why did Apple make Google the default search engine on iPhones? According to senior vice president of services Eddy Cue, who is testifying in the antitrust trial against Google, the decision was made simply because there „wasn’t a valid alternative.“
Speaking in federal court, Cue shed some light on the estimated $19 billion per year that Google is believed to be paying Apple under the agreement to keep its search engine the default option in Apple’s products.
„When we’re picking search engines, we pick the best one and we let the customer easily change them,“ Cue said. He added that Apple does offer alternatives, but they have some that „customers have never heard of,“ which can make them wary of making a perceived wrong choice.
The Information Services Agreement (ISA) between the two tech giants, which had been in place since 2002, was renegotiated in 2016. Cue hoped to convince CEO Sundar Pichai to increase Apple’s share of the revenue Google made from advertising via searches carried out on Apple devices, writes The Verge.
