Google is still paying billions of Apple for the privilege of remaining the default search engine in its Safari web browser, according to a new report by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
In the UK alone, the search giant is said to have paid Apple a “substantial majority” of the £ 1.2 billion (about $ 1.5 billion) that went to strengthen Google’s dominance of the Google market. searches last year.
However, the CMA believes that agreements like this, which allow Google to secure what is known as a “default position” in web browsers and other platforms, could constitute a violation of competition law.
According to the report, the Google-Apple deal poses “a significant barrier to entry and expansion” for rivals in the search market.
Browser wars
Among them, according to statcounter.com, Apple and Google are responsible for more than 80% of the global market share of browsers, with Google Chrome with 65.47% and Safari 16.97%.
The UK watchdog, then, is wary of allowing Google to consolidate its existing dominance in the search engine market further with its ongoing deal with Apple.
“Google has negotiated agreements with Apple and many of the largest mobile phone manufacturers under which it pays a portion of search advertising revenue to these partners in exchange for Google Search taking up the default search positions on the device.” , reads the report.
“Given the impact of pre-installs and defaults on mobile devices and Apple’s significant market share, we believe that Apple’s existing agreements with Google create a significant barrier to entry and expansion for rivals, affecting competition among search engines on mobile devices. “
Rival search offerings include Microsoft-owned Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo, each of which also pays Apple a fee that’s offered as a search option for users.
According to analyst estimates, Apple receives around $ 9 billion a year in license revenue, about 80% of which stems from its relationship with Google.
To rectify the market imbalance, the CMA has suggested limiting the extent to which Apple can take advantage of such agreements, or giving users a clear choice of default search engines when they start Safari for the first time.
Meanwhile, Apple told the watchdog that such measures would be “very expensive.”
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Via Reuters
