Apple has decided to step in to defend Google over its antitrust trial over online search under the terms of Apple-Google default agreement. The agreement was about making Google as the default search engine on Apple's Safari browser that involve tens of billion dollar per year from that arrangement.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) sees Google monopolizing search competition by setting exclusive contracts with companies like Apple and making it the largest search engine in the world. And therefore, the DOJ require Google to, among other things, sell its Chrome browser to restore competition in online search.
Google called the DOJ's proposal as “overboard” and would harm consumers and innovation, Google argued in August trial that it achieved its market position because they are chosen by the consumers for their innovation and not anti-competitive practices.
To counter the DOJ's proposal, Google offers shorter, non-exclusive distribution agreements with its partners, making them free to choose other search engine as the default in their browsers.
Reuters checked that Apple received $20 billion from Google in 2022 alone to make Google as the default on Apple products. Now Apple wants to fight for those payments at Google's next antitrust trial. But it's not just because they get billions.
Apple simply doesn't want to build its own search engine. Creating its own search engine would create competition to Google, something that DOJ seeks, but it's expensive and difficult to start from scratch and would take some time to build. Moreover, it receives billions of dollars each year just by installing Google as default in its products.
