Financial Times: Apple is developing its own search engine

Apple is developing its own search engine. As conceived, it should become a competitor to Google. This is reported by the Financial Times, citing its own sources.

What for?

Now the main search in iPhones is Google. Obviously, the company wants to minimize competitors in its own devices. According to the US Department of Justice, there is an agreement between Apple and Google, according to which Apple annually receives $ 8-12 billion from Google for using the company’s search engine.

Of course, now you can really change the default search engine, but very few people do it. Because of this, the Google search engine dominates Apple devices.

Why if it makes a lot of money?

The money is really big – about 15-20% of Apple’s total income. However, the problem lies in the phrase “US Department of Justice believes”, since the department is investigating this transaction, considering it illegal. Bloomberg reports.

Apple understands that this addiction can play a bad trick on the company. Therefore, he is developing his own search engine. The first rumors about this began in 2018, when the former head of Google’s search department, John Giannandrea, was hired. The company positioned his employment as someone who could empower Siri. But it’s pretty weird to hire someone with eight years of search engine experience to work on a voice assistant.

In addition, Apple is constantly looking for developers who can “define and implement the architecture of Apple’s innovative search technology.”

What stage is Apple in?

You may have noticed the first hints of your own search engine in iOS 14 when you make a search query from the widget panel:

The company also has an Applebot search robot. It has been more active in recent weeks, according to search marketing experts interviewed by the Financial Times.

But still the main thing is the employees who work at Apple:

Apple has a trustworthy team that I think has the potential to create a more general search engine.

Bill Cafran

Former Google CTO, Investor at Sequoia Capital

But it is still impossible to answer the question of when Apple will roll out its own search engine and whether it will do it at all. It will definitely be profitable for the company, and the creation of its own search engine is an excellent investment in the concept of “Apple is a company about online technologies.” So we will probably see a new Apple product in the next couple of years.