Apple's Dismissed Plan To Replace Google With Duckduckgo On Safari: The Inside Story

Latest disclosures reveal that Apple Inc. AAPL had considered replacing Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL Google with DuckDuckGo as Safari’s default search engine for its private mode. However, the tech giant eventually dismissed the idea.

What Happened: On Wednesday, during the ongoing antitrust trial against Google, it was revealed that Apple had been in discussions with DuckDuckGo regarding the proposed switch.

As per DuckDuckGo’s CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, nearly 20 meetings and phone calls took place with Apple executives in 2018 and 2019. 

However, Apple’s executive, John Giannandrea, dismissed the idea, considering it “probably a bad idea,” reported Bloomberg. 

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Giannandrea argued that DuckDuckGo’s reliance on Bing for search information might lead to sharing user information with Microsoft Corporation MSFT, contradicting the Weinberg-led search platform's privacy claims.

Previously, it was reported that Cupertino also explored the possibility of acquiring Microsoft's Bing search engine around 2020. 

The Justice Department has alleged that Google’s substantial payments to Apple to remain the default search engine inhibited other search engines from gaining users and becoming Google’s competitors.

Why It Matters: Previously, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified at Google's antitrust trial about the significant influence of Apple’s default search engine choice. "Whomever they choose, they king-make." 

He mentioned Microsoft’s willingness to obscure Bing’s brand on Apple devices to replace Google as the default search engine. 

During the same trial, Weinberg also criticized Google for making switching to his privacy-focused search engine unnecessarily difficult. 

Image Credits – Shutterstock

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