It’s Google’s turn in court to defend the huge annual payments it makes to Apple for iPhone search،
The prosecution ended its case against Google earlier this week after calling witnesses, obtaining testimony and presenting evidence to try to prove that the Alphabet subsidiary violated antitrust laws. This will then be an opportunity for Google to demonstrate to the court that it has not committed any act that could qualify it as a monopolist. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and
Google, is expected to testify, alongside other top executives, before Judge Amit Mehta.
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Bloomberg, one of the most important aspects of the case involves the huge annual payments Google makes to phone makers like Apple and Samsung to secure Google’s role as the default search engine on iPhone and Galaxy devices. The Justice Department claims that by making these payments, Samsung is preventing the public from reaping the benefits of possible innovation in search engine technology.
DOJ says Google’s payments to Apple and Samsung prevent device users from choosing other search engines
According to the DOJ, Google spends $10 billion a year to solidify its position as the default search engine. The company will have to explain why it feels obligated to make these payments every year, while trying to debunk the prosecution’s claims that Google’s prominence on Apple and Samsung devices prevents owners of those devices from searching alternative search engines.
Screenshot of the Google Search app on iPhone
In addition to accusing Google of paying phone makers to block search engine innovations from reaching the public, the DOJ says Google’s actions led to higher prices for Internet advertising through its control on the online auctions used to set these costs. The government says Google does this by manipulating how ad buyers and online publishers meet on ad platforms.
The DOJ used testimony about the Apple-Google deal to show how Google’s annual payments to Apple and Samsung reduce search competition. This testimony revealed that Apple was initially unwilling to have a default search engine on iPhone and considered developing its own search engine, but only if it could not reach a data-sharing agreement. income with Google. The prosecution used this testimony to show that Google’s deal with Apple prevented one of its biggest software competitors in the mobile space from competing with it in search.
Judge Mehta said the “core” of the DOJ’s case boils down to whether the Google-Apple search deal gave Google the authority to violate antitrust laws. An expert economist who testified as a prosecution witness said on the stand that “when you see Google paying billions and billions and billions, there has to be a reason. That’s the first thing that, as economist, slap me.
Changing the default search engine on iOS is quick and easy to do
Jennifer Rie, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst who is following the trial, said the prosecution had done a “solid job.” She added: “One of the hardest hurdles for Google, once it launches its main case, is understanding why it is paying so much.”
Changing the default search engine on iPhone is child’s play
Changing the search engine on your phone is not a complex process, it’s an argument that Google has made and could make again over the next five weeks to defend itself. Google blamed Microsoft’s failure to gain a greater share of the mobile search market with Bing as “a direct result of Microsoft’s missteps in Internet search.”
To change the default search engine on iOS, go to Settings > Safari > Search engine. This gives users the choice of five search engine options, including Google, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia. Google is the selected search option from the start, but it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to make the change on an iPhone. And that’s what Google is arguing, that the public is more familiar with and trusts Google’s search engine than its competitors, otherwise users would take two minutes out of their day to switch.
