Google pays Apple $100M/year for search on iPhone - rumor

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Having Google as the default search engine on the iPhone is rumored to earn Apple more than $100 million per year in a revenue sharing deal between the two companies, a new report alleges.



Downplaying rumors that Apple could be working on its own search engine, Silicon Alley Insider cited an anonymous source Thursday as stating that the iPhone maker has no intention of getting into the business that Google dominates. That same source claimed that Apple earns more than $100 million a year in a revenue sharing deal with Google.



In addition to being the search provider for Safari on the iPhone, Google also powers the native Maps application included with Apple's handset. The source claimed that making Google Maps a provider for the initial iPhone in 2007 was a simple two-week process. But when GPS was added to the iPhone 3G, negotiations between the two technology giants allegedly lasted six months.



"Google wanted access to all sorts of data from the maps, but Apple didn't want to give it up, according to this person," the report said.



While the $100 million in annual revenue is cited as a reason for Apple to not develop its own search engine, it's also a fraction of the $15.68 billion the company posted in revenue last quarter alone.



The news follows rumors from weeks ago that Apple and Microsoft were in talks to make its Bing search engine the default provider for the iPhone. Control of the handset's Maps application was also said to be a part of those ongoing discussions.



In spite of their ongoing partnership, a perception of rivalry between Apple and Google has grown in the public's eye since Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple's board of directors last August. Both Google and Apple were the subjects of a Federal Trade Commmission investigation for potential antitrust ties. Schmidt chose to resign because Google's Android mobile operating system and forthcoming Chrome OS netbook operating system look to compete with Apple's iPhone and Mac OS X, respectively.



Apple, too, showed signs in 2009 that it intends to tread into Google's territory soon. Last summer, Apple purchased Google Maps competitor Placebase. Later in the year, it sought to hire a full-time employee to take its iPhone Maps application "to the next level."



Apple has also entered the mobile advertising business after its purchase of Quattro Wireless, believed to be worth $275 million, in December. Through the acquisition, Apple also named the former CEO of Quattro Wireless, Andy Miller, to a new position: vice president of Mobile Advertising.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 51
    100million dollars is a drop in the bucket for apple.



    I think it's more important not to alienate their customers.



    Instead of getting into the search business or switching to bing, they should increase their share of the search ad revenue coming from the iPhone.
  • Reply 2 of 51
    That's like one of these companies bringing over a 20 dollar bottle of wine to compliment dinner.



    100Million! oOooOooOOOOOooooooh!
  • Reply 3 of 51
    Apple has no intentions of getting into the search engine, but we have purchased Placebase for doing something with Maps and we purchased Quattro Wireless, for doing something with Mobile Advertising. We do not, however, have any intention of entering the search business!



    But if they did, I wonder what a Apple search engine would look like? And I wonder if Apple would revive the name of "Sherlock"? Hhmmmm... \
  • Reply 4 of 51
    So this begs the question, how much is Apple getting paid to keep Flash off the iPad, and by whom?





    Or another way, How much is Apple saving by not having to pay Adobe for Flash support?





    Hmmm....
  • Reply 5 of 51
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jacob1varghese View Post


    100million dollars is a drop in the bucket for apple.



    I think it's more important not to alienate their customers.



    Instead of getting into the search business or switching to bing, they should increase their share of the search ad revenue coming from the iPhone.



    the 100 M is only about a .2 percent of their total revenue. BUT remember there are no costs associated with this revenue. So its basically pure profit. Specifically 1.6 percent of profits.



    Again not huge but not insignificant.



    What did that map company do? I am wondering if Apple would like to "customize" the look ad feel of maps but still use Google for the back end stuff.
  • Reply 6 of 51
    mazda 3smazda 3s Posts: 1,613member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacTripper View Post


    So this begs the question, how much is Apple getting paid to keep Flash off the iPod, and by whom?



    LOL, good one.



    I still personally think that it should be an OPTION for customers to use flash on the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad. If you think that Flash is the devil, evil, raped your mom, whatever -- then DON'T install it
  • Reply 7 of 51
    And how much are they getting for using google as the only possible search engine for desktop Safari?
  • Reply 8 of 51
    This seems outrageously false.
  • Reply 9 of 51
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mazda 3s View Post


    LOL, good one.



    I still personally think that it should be an OPTION for customers to use flash on the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad. If you think that Flash is the devil, evil, raped your mom, whatever -- then DON'T install it



    Flash is a runtime engine, i.e. interprets code... this goes against the developer agreement. Therefor, we will not see Flash on the iPhone anytime soon. It is also why we will not see other browsers on the iPhone unless they are based off the webkit engine included in the OS.



    There are three reasons they do this... security, stability, and privacy. Apple checks for these three basic criteria while applications move through the acceptance process. It would impossible to check for any of these if they allowed the installation of a 3rd party runtime engine, where code can be downloaded and executed after installation.
  • Reply 10 of 51
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacTripper View Post


    So this begs the question, how much is Apple getting paid to keep Flash off the iPad, and by whom?



    Welcome to Trollsville population you, oh and teckdud
  • Reply 11 of 51
    What does it mean when a rumor site labels one (and only one) of its articles with the word "rumor"? That the rest are just invention?
  • Reply 12 of 51
    My bet is that Apple ARE working on their own search engine. We will see it within 5 years.

    It makes complete strategical and philosophical sense, whatever anyone says.



    If Apple can generate $100mil for themselves in revenue sharing, one can only guess that the traffic that they send is worth 3 to 5 times that.



    Thats half a billon $ Apple may as well keep for themselves.



    Money aside, Apple are currently too reliant on google. It's dangerous IMO to be in that situation.
  • Reply 13 of 51
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cesium133x View Post


    What does it mean when a rumor site labels one (and only one) of its articles with the word "rumor"? That the rest are just invention?



    You found the source of other rumours?
  • Reply 14 of 51
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacTripper View Post


    So this begs the question, how much is Apple getting paid to keep Flash off the iPad, and by whom?



    Thats a real pot smoker thing to say. Nobody is paying Apple. It's in Apple's own (and the consumers long term) interest to keep that god awful technology off the iPad/iPhone.
  • Reply 15 of 51
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by monstrosity View Post


    My bet is that Apple ARE working on their own search engine. We will see it within 5 years.

    It makes complete strategical and philosophical sense, whatever anyone says.



    I think 5 years is more likely than this year, though it does depend on when they started.
  • Reply 16 of 51
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I think 5 years is more likely than this year, though it does depend on when they started.



    My guess would be that Apple started no later than the date Google confirmed the Android platform.
  • Reply 17 of 51
    So where is my cut? I want a cut of the cake or I will send Google a note that if they pay me I will use android instead.
  • Reply 18 of 51
    Quote:

    Welcome to Trollsville population you, oh and teckdud



    TeckStud is a troll.



    I don't try to troll, I just Trip because I think outside the box sometimes and question the status quo. It's the blind lemmings that believe everything they are told to think who have trouble with those that question like myself.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by monstrosity View Post


    Thats a real pot smoker thing to say. Nobody is paying Apple. It's in Apple's own (and the consumers long term) interest to keep that god awful technology off the iPad/iPhone.





    There you see, someone who knows and a little paranoia doesn't hurt, keeps one on their toes asking questions.



    I really should have said:



    How much money is Apple saving not having to pay Adobe for Flash support?



    Ahhh... the plot thickens...
  • Reply 19 of 51
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacTripper View Post


    How much money is Apple saving not having to pay Adobe for Flash support?



    I wasn't aware that Apple payed Adobe in the first place.
  • Reply 20 of 51
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacTripper View Post


    How much money is Apple saving not having to pay Adobe for Flash support?



    Ahhh... the plot thickens...



    It is clear why Apple doesn't want Flash on the iPhone or iPad. They do not have any control over it. And I don't mean that in a fascist way at all.



    Apple's experience with Flash on OS X has been truly awful; security, stability and performance issues. In fact, with Safari 4, Apple has decided to push Flash objects into their own sandbox to prevent them from bringing down the entire browser.



    The control aspect comes in when there is a legitimate issue with Flash and Apple is completely powerless to fix it. They must wait for Adobe to fix the issue and as history has shown, Adobe doesn't care about the end user experience (especially on the Mac) all they care about is selling Flash tools to developers.



    So the user suffers and the experience of using the device is drown under shitty Flash code. I would be extremely upset if I bought a device to surf the web and it constantly crashed on me. You really think Apple is going to let that happen? Do you really think Apple will ever let Flash on its mobile devices?



    Even the mobile Mozilla browser has turned off default Flash support, because it made the entire experience unbearable.
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