Rumor that Apple will launch a web search engine pops up again
AR evangelist Robert Scoble believes that Apple will unveil a new user-centric web search engine similar to Google's, but is waiting until January 2023 to do so.
It's not as if rumors of Apple creating a Google rival are new, but they aren't common, either. Now Robert Scoble has been detailing everything he believes Apple is about to launch, from WWDC to next year, and has revived the search engine rumor.
Scoble offers no further detail in his Twitter thread, but did tell TechRadar Pro that he bases this partly on conversations with sources, and partly on deduction.
Previously Scoble has said that Apple would launch its VR "bases this">Apple Glass" at WWDC 2022 -- and come alongside a "new iPod."
That claim originated on Twitter as well, but Scoble soon followed it with another tweet that tried to walk back all of his Apple claims.
"Consider anything I say about Apple as untrustworthy," he tweeted. "But it is informed."
There is a precedent for Apple replacing a Google service. It did exactly that with ditching Google Maps in favor of its own Apple Maps, although that didn't start well.
Plus Apple does already have a search engine which powers Siri and Spotlight. So it wouldn't appear to be an enormous stretch for Apple to expand that into a full Google-style general search service.
Should Apple launch this general search engine for users, it will likely lose a great deal of money. For it's been previously reported that Google expected to pay Apple $15 billion over the course of 2021, in order to remain as the default search engine on iOS. If correct, that one deal was the equivalent of between 15% and 20% of Apple's annual profits in 2020.
At the time, it was suggested that Google was paying this amount in order to avoid losing its default search engine status to Microsoft Bing.
Read on AppleInsider
It's not as if rumors of Apple creating a Google rival are new, but they aren't common, either. Now Robert Scoble has been detailing everything he believes Apple is about to launch, from WWDC to next year, and has revived the search engine rumor.
Oh, and a new search engine is coming too. Will Siri finally get "smart?" Hmmm.
-- Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer)
Scoble offers no further detail in his Twitter thread, but did tell TechRadar Pro that he bases this partly on conversations with sources, and partly on deduction.
Previously Scoble has said that Apple would launch its VR "bases this">Apple Glass" at WWDC 2022 -- and come alongside a "new iPod."
That claim originated on Twitter as well, but Scoble soon followed it with another tweet that tried to walk back all of his Apple claims.
"Consider anything I say about Apple as untrustworthy," he tweeted. "But it is informed."
There is a precedent for Apple replacing a Google service. It did exactly that with ditching Google Maps in favor of its own Apple Maps, although that didn't start well.
Plus Apple does already have a search engine which powers Siri and Spotlight. So it wouldn't appear to be an enormous stretch for Apple to expand that into a full Google-style general search service.
Should Apple launch this general search engine for users, it will likely lose a great deal of money. For it's been previously reported that Google expected to pay Apple $15 billion over the course of 2021, in order to remain as the default search engine on iOS. If correct, that one deal was the equivalent of between 15% and 20% of Apple's annual profits in 2020.
At the time, it was suggested that Google was paying this amount in order to avoid losing its default search engine status to Microsoft Bing.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
” However, Weinberg has made it clear that this restriction is only in their browser and does not affect the DuckDuckGo search engine.”
Also, the Apple web crawler is nothing new and sparked the “Apple web search is coming” rumors a long time ago, maybe 10 years or so. I wonder what makes Scoble think things are different this year.
Marketing to consumers about Privacy or lack of bubbles means little.
What they want is the noise reduced so that the signal can be heard more clearly
which means an adequate search engine needs blocking mechanisms for unwanted sites or results as well as
the ability to set your own custom preferences and priority.
Search Operators is an area Apple could make less byzantine.
The web has turned into a cacophony of noise, clangs and bangs and honestly today a search engine doesn't need to
search the interernet as much as it needs to surface good content which was a goal of Google that quickly failed.
Search engines make money off of every single search that is pumped into them. There is a lot to be had if you can get users to actually use your engine.
From a user perspective (especially a multi lingual user perspective) even Google falls short in returning the best spread of results and to this day is unable to present results correctly from newest to oldest.
It is still my go-to though followed by Petal Search.
They could potentially buy the company behind duckduckgo and just have that be their own search engine. They only have around 175 employees:
https://duckduckgo.com/hiring
It might not need to be a full independent search engine, they could pull results from Google, Bing and other sources (Wolfram, IMDB, StackOverflow, news companies) similar to what Siri does and they'd earn revenue from their own ad system.
Or try and give the best results on page one?
Still, it would be interesting to see what Apple could come up with. Perhaps it will be another revenue source especially with various countries going after Apple and the way it handles the App Store.
Time will tell. Call me interested.