Apple won't make a Google search rival, says Eddy Cue

Apple executive Eddy Cue is expected to testify in court that the company has no plan to make an "Apple Search" engine, because its deal with Google is the best for users.

As previously reported, Apple's Senior Vice President of Services, Eddy Cue, is scheduled to testify as a witness in the US vs Google antitrust trial. Ahead of his appearance, CNBC says that he is expected to defend Apple's deal with Google.

Specifically, Cue is expected to tell the federal court that Apple will not create a rival search engine, despite multiple previous rumors, going back some years. Sources familiar with his expected testimony say that Apple doesn't believe there is a reason to create an 'Apple Search," because Google already exists.

This does fit with Tim Cook saying in 2018 of Google, that "I think their search engine is the best."

Eddy Cue negotiated the deal between Google and Apple. While details are not public, CNBC says it is estimated that Google will pay up to $19 billion this year, in order to stay as the default search engine on iPhones.

Cue's testimony is in an antitrust case brought against Google by the US Department of Justice. Apple is not part of the case, but Cue and other Apple executives have been subpoenaed to provide testimony.

Controversially, the trial has already seen Justice Department attorney Kenneth Dintzer allegedly share information about confidential trade secrets in a public call. Apple has filed a confidentiality protest.

The trial is expected to last for ten weeks.

33 Comments

beowulfschmidt 2349 comments · 12 Years

About 1 year ago

I mean, I'd hardly expect him to testify any differently.

marjorietuck@msn.com 23 comments · 1 Year

Apple’s iOS is already enabling immediate sharing of my search history data between Google and DuckDuckGo, despite me having turned off all possible cookies trackers and address book sharing. Searches on one affected and tainted search results on the other, making them indistinguishable to me anymore.

darelrex 139 comments · 11 Years

I think Apple wants to enter a market when it can make a markedly better product that what's already out there. For example, compare the original 2007 iPhone to the other smartphones that existed at that time; the difference is huge. On the other hand, after Eero debuted (a big improvement in WiFi routers), Apple looked at its own router lineup and said, why are we even in this market? Then Apple left that market.

Cue is being honest: Apple doesn't want to make a me-too copy of Google search. Me-too copies are the historical province of Microsoft, and more recently of Google (e.g. Pixel). Apple doesn't see any value in that.

rob53 3307 comments · 13 Years

marjorietuck@msn.com said:

Apple’s iOS is already enabling immediate sharing of my search history data between Google and DuckDuckGo, despite me having turned off all possible cookies trackers and address book sharing. Searches on one affected and tainted search results on the other, making them indistinguishable to me anymore.

See https://duckduckgo.com/privacy
--We don’t track you. That’s our Privacy Policy in a nutshell.
We don’t save or share your search or browsing history when you search on DuckDuckGo or use our apps and extensions.

DuckDuckGo says they don't share search or browsing history. Does Google search somehow grab DDG search history? As for address book sharing, DDG doesn't have anything to do with that. Of course, you're using an msn.com email account so things might be different on Windows browsers.