Apple is allegedly fast-tracking the creation of a search engine to take on Google Search. Although there has been speculation for some time now that the Cupertino company is creating a Google Search alternative, and is going to be offered on iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, which does not require Google support to answer day-to-day queries. Apple had previously in 2020 had also posted job openings for search engineers in a hint that it was forging ahead with an inborn search engine. Moreover, the United States antitrust lawsuit against Google threatening the payment that Apple receives each year from Google for allowing it to be the default search engine on iPhones and iPads.
As per a report by Financial Times, Apple’s move to bring impartial Web searching capacities to iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 is evidence that the firm’s CEO-led team is ready to take on Google with its own search engine. The newest software updates permit users to begin searching for Web results by swiping down the search box that appears on the home screen. This brings direct links to the sites rather than viewing results from Google.
Apple didn’t give much stress to the latest addition at the time of declaring the latest iOS and iPadOS versions at its virtual WWDC 2020 conference in June. Yet, its site specifying the features of the latest software updates does carry a devoted search section with some information.
The company has mentioned that now searching the web will be a lot easier than before. Users can begin to type and see pertinent sites and web search recommendations showcased at the top, making it laid-back to speedily launch Safari for a full web search.
The FT also pointed out that Apple hired the tech giant’s head of search in the year, 2018. That hiring appeared as a move to elevate the company’s existing AI capacities and its Siri assistant. But, he comes with an 8-yr experience of working on Google Search.
Alongside him, Apple has recently begun to hire search engineers that could sooner or later help in building a strong entrant to Google’s search engine.
Apple is getting an enormous, 8-12 billion dollars fee each year from Google for keeping its search engine as default on iOS systems. Nevertheless, only the previous week, the Justice Department of the United States litigated Google for paying billions of dollars to firms comprising of Apple to hold its supremacy in web search.
That antitrust case might ultimately leave Apple without the money it gets from Google. Be that as it may, Apple will need a substitute if the agreement it has with Google for its search engine is affected by regulators.
The Cupertino based company has already owned a Web crawler by the name Applebot that assists the company index a large no. of websites on an everyday basis. It confirmed the presence of its bot in the year, 2015 and projects it as a key to offer search results through Siri and Spotlight Recommendations. Though, it could be used for a wider purpose, if and when needed.
That said, the firm hasn’t said anything openly about creating an alternative to the Google Search, so this report is still in rumors at this point.
