Apple
CEO
Tim
Cook,
left,
and
Eddy
Cue,
Apple’s
senior
vice
president
of
services
attend
the
Allen
&
Co.
Media
and
Technology
Conference
in
Sun
Valley,
Idaho,
on
July
10,
2019.
Patrick
T.
Fallon
|
Bloomberg
|
Getty
Images
Microsoft
offered
to
sell
its
Bing
search
engine
to
Apple
in
2018,
Google
said
in
a
court
filing
earlier
this
month.
The
document,
from
Google’s
antitrust
case
against
the
U.S.
Justice
Department,
was
unsealed
on
Friday.
The
legal
battle
over
whether
Alphabet
has
a
monopoly
in
web
search
advertising
touches
on
key
agreements
Google
has
in
place
with
Apple
and
Android
phone
makers
to
ensure
exclusivity
of
its
search
engine.
In
2021,
Google
spent
more
than
$26
billion
to
keep
its
search
engine
the
default,
according
to
a
slide
shown
during
the
trial
in
October.
Google
has
been
trying
to
prove
in
the
case
that
it
competes
fairly.
In
the
filing
earlier
this
month,
Google
argued
that
Microsoft
pitched
Apple
in
2009,
2013,
2015,
2016,
2018
and
2020
about
making
Bing
the
default
in
Apple’s
Safari
web
browser,
but
each
time,
Apple
said
no,
citing
quality
issues
with
Bing.
“In
each
instance,
Apple
took
a
hard
look
at
the
relative
quality
of
Bing
versus
Google
and
concluded
that
Google
was
the
superior
default
choice
for
its
Safari
users.
That
is
competition,”
Google
wrote
in
the
filing.
The
Justice
Department
said
in
its
own
newly
unsealed
filing
that
Microsoft
has
spent
almost
$100
billion
on
Bing
over
20
years.
The
Windows
and
Office
software
maker
launched
Bing
in
2009,
following
search
efforts
under
the
MSN
and
Windows
Live
brands.
Today
Bing
has
3%
global
market
share,
according
to
StatCounter.
In
the
fourth
quarter,
Microsoft
generated
$3.2
billion
from
search
and
news
advertising,
while
Google
search
and
other
revenue
totaled
$48
billion.
Google
said
in
its
filing
that
when
Microsoft
reached
out
to
Apple
in
2018,
emphasizing
gains
in
Bing’s
quality,
Microsoft
offered
to
either
sell
Bing
to
Apple
or
establish
a
Bing-related
joint
venture
with
the
company.
“Microsoft
search
quality,
their
investment
in
search,
everything
was
not
significant
at
all,”
said
Eddy
Cue,
Apple’s
senior
vice
president
of
services,
according
to
the
filing.
“And
so
everything
was
lower.
So
the
search
quality
itself
wasn’t
as
good.
They
weren’t
investing
at
any
level
comparable
to
Google
or
to
what
Microsoft
could
invest
in.
And
their
advertising
organization
and
how
they
monetize
was
not
very
good
either.”
Google
said
Apple
CEO
Tim
Cook
sent
an
email
to
Apple
executives
about
the
assessment
of
Bing,
but
his
remarks
are
redacted
in
the
filing.
Representatives
for
Google
and
Microsoft
did
not
immediately
respond
to
a
request
for
comment.
In
October,
Microsoft
CEO
Satya
Nadella
testified
in
the
trial
that
he
has
“focused
every
year
of
my
tenure
as
CEO
to
see
if
Apple
would
be
open”
to
a
default
arrangement
for
Bing.
Cue
testified
that
“if
Apple
did
not
receive
the
massive
payments
it
sought
from
Google,
Apple
would
have
developed
its
own
search
engine,”
the
Justice
Department
asserted
in
its
filing.
Bloomberg
reported
in
September,
citing
unnamed
individuals,
that
in
around
2020
Microsoft
executives
held
“exploratory”
talks
with
Eddy
Cue,
Apple’s
senior
vice
president
of
services,
about
selling
Bing
to
Apple.
WATCH:
It’s
unclear
if
Google
can
retain
its
dominance
in
tech,
says
Loop’s
Rob
Sanderson
watch
now
