Without Google’s billions, the DOJ expects Apple to build its own search engine. They’re dead wrong

Eddy Cue, Senior Vice President of Services at Apple, recently, filed a Declaration in support of Apple’s intention to intervene in the U.S. government’s antitrust suit against Google. Included in the court filing are reasons why Apple is not planning to develop its own search engine. First of all, we should point out that Apple receives a share of the revenue received by Google from Apple user’s search queries. That resulted in Apple receiving $20 billion in 2022.

The DOJ is looking to stop Apple from receiving a cut of Google’s search revenue from Safari

The DOJ is looking to prevent Apple from receiving any share of the revenue generated by Google Search on Apple devices for ten years. The government also wants to prevent Apple from making any other deals with Google. This would include a potential deal reportedly under discussion between the two tech giants that would integrate Google’s Gemini AI into the iPhone.

“Only Apple can speak to what kinds of future collaborations can best serve its users. Apple is relentlessly focused on creating the best user experience possible and explores potential partnerships and arrangements with other companies to make that happen. If the remedies above were implemented, it would hamstring Apple’s ability to continue delivering products that best serve its user’s’ needs.”-Eddy Cue, Senior VP of Services, Apple

Cue says that if the Court rules in favor of the government, Apple would have two choices that he calls “unacceptable.” One would be to keep Google Search as the default search engine for Safari with Apple receiving no share of the revenue earned by Google. This means that Google would gain access to Apple’s customers for free. Or Apple could remove Google Search as an option for Safari users. But as Cue states in the filing, “But because customers prefer Google, removing it as an option would harm both Apple and its customers.”

The government seems to believe that without the current revenue-sharing agreement with Google, Apple will create its own search engine. Cue says that this assumption on the part of the plaintiffs is incorrect. The SVP of Services said that Apple is focused on other growth areas and that building a search engine would cost Apple billions of dollars and take too much time. Additionally, Search is “rapidly evolving” because of changes in AI. As a result, Cue states that it would be “economically risky” for Apple to shell out the cash required to build its own search engine.

Third, and perhaps a key reason why we shouldn’t expect Apple to build its own search engine, such a feature would require Apple to develop its own platform to sell targeted ads. But as Cue points out, this is not one of Apple’s core businesses. He points out that while Apple does sell niche advertising such as the ads sold on the App Store platform, search ads are different. Building such a business, Cue says, would require Apple to balance it against its famous commitment to user privacy.

Despite the trio of reasons included in the filing by Eddy Cue, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said last year that Apple might be ready to build its own search engine for iOS if the DOJ ends up forcing Google to make changes to how it shares search engine revenue with Apple.

This is the perfect example of what an Apple search engine is capable of

Apple has decided to get involved in Google’s case as an Intervenor-Defendant because it believes that “Google can no longer adequately represent Apple’s interests: Google must now defend against a broad effort to break up its business units.” Gurman wrote last year that Spotlight is the best example of what Apple’s search capabilities are. Using Spotlight is like having a powerful search engine on  your iPhone or iPad.

Spotlight shows what an Apple devised search engine is capable of. | Image credit-PhoneArena

To access Spotlight, you can swipe down from the middle of your home screen and use the search bar to type in your request. As you type, the search responses update in real-time. You can also get to Spotlight by tapping the chip underneath the app icons on the home screen. In iOS 17 and later, you can take action right from your search results.

According to Apple, you can:

• Search for an app like Notes, and your results include the option to create a new note.
• Search for a setting like Airplane Mode, and you can toggle the setting on or off.
• Search for a phone number or contact, and you can call it, send a message, or start a FaceTime call.

If Spotlight is an example of what an Apple developed search engine would be capable of doing, I’m here for it.