[BugsJustFindMe]

> Apple’s market position allows it to pocket $18 billion a year in pure rent

Google's market position both allows and makes it financially beneficial to pay $18 billion to suppress one single source of competition. Nobody forces google to buy the default search spot.

[Jensson]

> Nobody forces google to buy the default search spot.

Someone would pay Apple to be the default search, if Google didn't pay billions Microsoft would pay billions to make Bing the default search. Would you prefer that?

Apple is auctioning it out to the highest bidder, I don't see how bidding in an auction is wrong.

[wodenokoto]

The way Mozilla did it with Yahoo seemed very palatable, honestly. They asked Yahoo to make a special search page, that had most crap removed and if I remember correctly they also had demands on response time.

[edgyquant]

I would prefer that Apple pop up a list of all search engines and let users choose.

[Jensson]

Tell that to Apple, Google doesn't have the power to give you that.

Edit: Also Google would love a law enforcing that, since now they don't have to pay all of these billions of dollars and most people would pick Google in that choice anyway. The main players that doesn't want that are Apple and the others that auctions out default search.

So Google convincing the judges to stop Apple from auctioning out default search would be a Google win.

[turquoisevar]

Google might not have the power to give you that, but they certainly have the power to prevent Apple from giving you that

Or do you really think Google is paying billions without stipulating that Apple can't offer a choice during setup?

> Also Google would love a law enforcing that, since now they don't have to pay all of these billions of dollars and most people would pick Google in that choice anyway

I need you to square this circle for me. If Google were so confident that people would pick Google of their own volition, why would they bother spending billions?

[Jensson]

> Or do you really think Google is paying billions without stipulating that Apple can't offer a choice during setup?

If you do get a choice at startup then there is nothing to sell since there is no default. So yes, if Apple isn't selling the product then they don't get any money.

But Google paying Apple has nothing to do with it, Apple would make billions selling the default to Microsoft otherwise, they wouldn't give you a choice at startup. The only thing that would give you that choice is if laws ban Apple from selling the default search provider spot.

> I need you to square this circle for me. If Google were so confident that people would pick Google of their own volition, why would they bother spending billions?

Because otherwise Microsoft would spend those billions and now Bing would be the default. Defaults matters, but if you force the user to make a choice they would pick Google due to brand recognition.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-28/microsoft...

[edgyquant]

> Because otherwise Microsoft would spend those billions and now Bing would be the default.

Not if it is ruled anti-competitive to do this in general.

[rstupek]

Apple has a settings screen where you can choose from 6 possible search engines. Mine is set to ddg

[randomdata]

Sounds like an unpleasant user experience.

[wombat-man]

Yeah... I wonder would they actually make Bing the default though?