Google Search has been the default option on Apple devices for years. And it’s precisely that which has been part of the scrutiny surrounding Google in its landmark antitrust trial against the US Justice Department. Since the trial began back in September most days have brought to light new details about Google’s allegedly monopolistic business practices. And a new key detail might just give the DOJ a little more leverage.
An email correspondence from Google CEO Sundar Pichai suggests he didn’t think Google should be pushing so heavily to be the default search option in Apple’s Safari browser. The email is from 2007 while Pichai was running the Chrome team and was to co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. It states that Pichai thought being the only search option on Apple’s devices was “bad optics.” Pichai also said he didn’t think being the only option was a good user experience.
This viewpoint from Google’s current CEO would seemingly lend credence to the DOJ’s claims that Google operates an illegal monopoly in the online search business.
Google currently pays a significant amount of money to be the default search for Apple devices
In addition to the details within the email, Bloomberg reports that DOJ attorneys questioned Google’s Joan Braddi. Braddi is a Google executive who helped secure the exclusive search deals outlined in earlier trial days. When asked whether or not Google pays a large sum of money to keep these exclusive deals in play, Braddi said yes. Though she also testified that it wasn’t always this way. “It wasn’t always, but today, yes,” Braddi said.
Throughout the trial Google has maintained that it doesn’t operate a monopoly in online search. Stating that users have complete control and can easily change the default after just a few taps. But both rivals and the DOJ dispute this. Stating that Google makes it unnecessarily difficult to swap from Google to another option.
Microsoft’s current CEO Satya Nadella echoed a very similar sentiment noting that everyone is just playing in Google’s web. And that because of its market dominance, rivals like Bing and others don’t stand a chance at gaining any market share.