Apple once planned to buy Bing to compete with Google

Apple once met with Microsoft about buying the Bing search engine, but then withdrew because of the attraction of billions of dollars that Google pays each year.

At the Washington DC court, John Giannandrea, Senior Vice President of Apple, revealed that the company had intended to expand into the search segment instead of setting Google as the default tool. This is part of the content of Google's closed trial on monopolistic behavior, which took place on September 22 but was only announced this week.

Apple, Bing and Google logos. Photo: Gearrice

The unsealing of the transcript and publication of the trial content between the US Department of Justice and Google was done after judge Amit Mehta "carefully read every line". Apple and Google asked to keep the testimony private, but Mehta said that except for trade secrets, everything else should be made public.

Giannandrea testified for 10 minutes before the trial ended. He said Apple had carefully considered whether it could compete with Google by launching its own search engine. "Initially, Apple removed some of Google's Safari search results and replaced them with the Safari Suggestions feature ," he said. "This way, I think, we're taking our first bite of the apple."

Next, in 2018, Apple representatives met with Microsoft to discuss the possibility of acquiring Bing. The negotiations were "tightly organized", offering a series of proposals on whether to buy out or establish a joint venture. However, everything came to a dead end after CEO Tim Cook decided to stop.

Besides Bing, Apple also contacted DuckDuckGo, a search service that promotes privacy, to replace Google. This information was stated in court by Gabriel Weinberg, CEO of DuckDuckGo.

DuckDuckGo, Apple and Google have not yet commented.

According to US prosecutors, Google holds 90% of the online search market share. That advantage is partly due to the company joining hands with Apple in a deal that has lasted 18 years. Every year, Apple is paid up to 19 billion USD to display Google's search engine by default on its iPhone, MacBook and other products. The two sides tried to keep it a secret from the public and only mentioned the agreement in internal communication channels.

According to the Washington Post , monopolizing is not illegal, but abusing monopoly advantage to extinguish competition is against the law. Prosecutors are trying to prove that Google used its monopoly position to pressure Apple into signing the deal.

The US Department of Justice has until mid-October to find evidence and present its views in court. The companies will provide testimony until the end of November. After that, both sides will submit their arguments and proposals to the judge.