and DuckDuckGo available as search engines on Safari, Apple hopes to have an alternative system in place just in case regulators decide to block this agreement.
Google stands accused of cobbling together partnerships, including the Google Search on Safari deal with Apple, to maintain its overall monopoly.
There are also changes introduced with Apple iOS 14 operating system for the iPhone line-up, which implement Apple’s own search results in some functionality such as when a user searches while swiping down on any of the home screens.
In the complaint, the Department of Justice refers to how Google maintained its search and search advertising monopolies by entering into exclusivity agreements that forbid preinstallation of any competing search service, entering into tying and other arrangements that force preinstallation of its search applications in prime locations on mobile devices and make them undeletable, regardless of consumer preference, entering into long-term agreements with Apple that require Google to be the default – and de facto exclusive – general search engine on Apple’s popular Safari browser and other Apple search tools as well as generally using monopoly profits to buy preferential treatment for its search engine on devices, web browsers, and other search access points, creating a continuous and self-reinforcing cycle of monopolization?
They also point out that Google search or any other Google product aren’t preloaded on Microsoft Windows 10 devices because Microsoft preloads the Edge web browser with their own Bing search engine as default.
It is still too early to say whether Apple will indeed scale up the search engine efforts to the extent where it can compete with Google directly in the search space.