In a revelation that has stirred the tech industry, Apple, the tech behemoth, once contemplated acquiring Bing, the web search engine owned by Microsoft, back in 2018. This information surfaced through a recently unsealed testimony from John Giannandrea, Apple’s head of machine learning and a former Google executive.
A Strategic Pivot in the Search Engine Domain
In an era where search engine alliances have become pivotal in shaping the digital user experience, Apple was mulling over utilizing Bing to power responses for Siri’s queries and to enhance other features across its iPhone and Mac product lines. The potential move was not merely a whimsical consideration but a strategic deliberation, as Google was paying a staggering estimated amount of $19 billion per year to retain its position as the default search engine across Apple products.
The Unsealed Testimony: Insights into a Potential Tech Alliance
Giannandrea’s testimony, part of the ongoing Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Google, unveiled that Apple was exploring various avenues with Microsoft, including a “multibillion-dollar investment” in a joint venture. The internal discussions, spearheaded by Adrian Perica, Apple’s head of business development, revolved around four potential scenarios:
- Nurturing Siri’s growth organically
- Collaborating on a technology dubbed “Knowledge Graph”
- Co-owning Bing
- Or outright acquiring Bing
Apple, Google, and the Antitrust Spotlight
The antitrust case against Google, which is expected to unfold over the coming weeks, has brought Apple’s deal with Google into the limelight. The government aims to demonstrate that Google has strategically utilized licensing deals and other contracts to sideline search rivals and monopolize the market. Giannandrea’s insights into Apple’s internal discussions to potentially enhance Siri and Spotlight, which can redirect queries to Google when unable to provide an answer, are pivotal in this context.
Apple and Microsoft: A Potential Partnership
Giannandrea disclosed that Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had discussions in the summer of 2018, sparking internal dialogues about amplifying their partnership with Bing. He, along with Adrian Perica, engaged in two or three meetings with Microsoft that year, commencing in August.
“I would say that there was an open discussion about whether we could do more together, and that included, my understanding was, potentially the option to acquire Bing from Microsoft,” Giannandrea shared during the testimony.
The Path Not Taken
Despite the discussions and potential scenarios laid out, the deal with Microsoft did not materialize. Giannandrea expressed skepticism regarding Bing’s capabilities and whether it could significantly outperform Google. His email to Cook in December 2018 outlined these reservations, and a comparison between Bing and Google search in 2021 affirmed Google’s superior performance in mobile queries.
A Future Undefined
While Apple continues to invest in web crawling to bolster its work on language models, the future trajectory of its search engine strategy remains undefined. The unsealed testimony has not only unveiled past considerations but also opened a window into the strategic deliberations within tech giants, revealing the intricate web of potential alliances, deals, and strategic shifts that could shape the future of the digital realm.
