Mozilla’s Firefox browser is not the only thing that will sever the partnership with current search engine giant Google. The company with the largest market cap in the world; Apple, plans on following in the same footsteps as Firefox by terminating Google’s default search engine partnership in favor of Yahoo or Bing. Apple’s partnership with Google is about to expire in 2015, after which the position of a default search engine will be up for grabs.
According to a report detailed by The Information, both Microsoft and Yahoo decided to hold a little chit chat meeting with Apple SVP Eddy Cue on being the successor of the default search engine that will be running on Apple’s Safari browser. Microsoft’s Bing currently has the upper hand as the search engine is assimilated with SIRI, Apple’s iOS platform’s personal assistant. Even on products that are running the OS X Yosemite platform, the Spotlight search delivers Bing results, with no current backdoor on how to start using Google’s search engine.
Even if Yahoo does not get tapped by Apple for becoming the default search engine, the company still has a valid 5 year partnership with Firefox. Since Apple’s iPhones possess the second largest smartphone market share on the planet, falling behind Samsung, any change on Apple’s part would result in a dramatic change in the mobile search market share. However, it is very likely that smartphone users will be quick to switch back to Google’s search engine.
Apple has been on a rampage trying to cut ties with Google and its partnership, although some ventures have resulted in yielding horrible results (Apple maps being a prime example). Nonetheless, if the change does take place, the real challenge for Eddy Cue will be convincing millions of Apple product owners on how the remaining search engines are superior to Google’s.
