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Google has been the undisputed champion of search engines for 22 years. But will Apple enter the search engine space?
This article first appeared on thebit.nz.
Google has been the undisputed champion of search engines for 22 years now, with all others playing for a very distant second.
It’s been a long time at the top, and while many people think it’s not as incredibly helpful as before, there’s still no real challenger waiting in the wings. If Microsoft can’t force Windows’ market dominance to make Bing anything more than a punchline, then what does anyone else expect?
Well, maybe the richest company in the world can help. According to blogger Robert Scoble, Apple has plans for its own search engine and he told TechRadar it will be “the most expensive product launch ever”, which is quite something for a company. who spends billions telling people they want a new iPhone. every year.
Don’t expect anything this month [June] WWDC Developer Conference – Scoble thinks this is something that’s slated for January instead, alongside the long-awaited mixed reality headset.
More importantly, it’s unclear what we’re looking for here: something to improve search in macOS/iOS, something to finally make Siri feel smart, or a real full-fledged Google alternative? Importantly, Scoble doesn’t know either. When asked directly on Twitter, he had this to say:
This Siri feature certainly seems like a big part of it, as he told someone else:
While a smarter Siri would come in handy – especially with HomePod rumored to return this year – a comprehensive search engine could be one way to make Apple’s comic cash stash even bigger.
Although Google’s parent company Alphabet doesn’t explicitly say how much of its revenue comes from Google Search, it appears to have been around US$149 billion (NZ$229 billion) in 2021. Considering how many people own iPhones and Macs, a small tweak to Safari could suddenly give Apple a big slice of that delicious silver pie. And if it’s good, maybe people will even use it on Windows voluntarily.
But, to quote The Wire, “when you come to the king, you better not miss it.” Apple is currently making US$15 billion ($23 billion NZ) a year by making Google the default search engine on Safari, and apparently one of the terms of that deal is that the company not create its own search engine. That’s a lot of passive income to give up for something users could immediately turn off…
