[rchaud]

Google pays Apple $20b every year to remain the default search engine on iOS. Now that's desperate. Where were people going to go, Bing?

[greenyoda]

Google may be afraid that Apple would develop their own search engine, just like they developed their own maps engine and iCloud for email/photos. Apple, with their massive piles of cash, would have the resources to do that.

[zamadatix]

Or that Apple simply changes the default Bing, offering something less but greater than 0, and Google loses out on >20 billion in ad revenue.

[asadotzler]

Or buy one, like Bing, and take it from middling to solid.

[karakot]

yes, the same way they went with Siri.