Now Google is answering in court
It’s no secret that Google pays Apple to be the first to keep the search engine active by default in the Safari browser on the iPhone. Payments from Google are increasing every year. And although there is never official data on this matter, now we are talking about 18–20 billion dollars.
Bernstein analysts, cited by The Register, speak about this amount. And now this deal between the giants is in jeopardy. Let us remind you that Google is now a defendant in court in the case of monopolization of the search engine market. If Google is found guilty, it is also possible that the company will be forced to terminate the deal with Apple.
Google pays Apple $18-20 billion a year, but that deal is in jeopardy.
We believe there is a possibility that the federal courts will rule against Google and force it to terminate its search agreement with Apple. We estimate the ISA to be worth $18-20 billion in annual payments from Google to Apple, representing 14-16% of Apple’s annual operating profits.
In addition, if this is the outcome, Apple will be forced to use some other search engine. Let us remind you that we recently learned that Apple was in negotiations with Microsoft regarding the acquisition of Bing, but the Cupertino team eventually abandoned this idea.
