Apple Nixed Chances To Buy Microsoft's Bing

Since 2017, Apple has turned down multiple opportunities to challenge Google's dominance in the search engine market, according to newly unsealed court transcripts.

Testimony revealed that Apple seriously considered a deal with Bing in 2018, following a conversation between Apple CEO Tim Cook and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella that led to further discussions between the two companies. I Photo: Bing Facebook

These opportunities included a chance to purchase Microsoft's Bing and to make the privacy-focused DuckDuckGo the default search engine for users of Safari's private browsing mode, Brian Fung reported for CNN.

The previously confidential records, unsealed this week by the judge presiding over the US government's antitrust lawsuit against Google, illustrate the challenges faced by Google's rivals in the search engine industry as they attempted to unseat the tech giant from its position as Apple's default search provider on millions of iPhones and Mac computers.

Google has paid Apple at least $10 billion a year for this privilege.

The closed-door testimony by the CEO of DuckDuckGo, Gabriel Weinberg, and a senior Apple executive, John Giannandrea, offers insight into the failed deals and backroom negotiations that have helped Google maintain its position as the world's top search engine.

However, it also shows how Apple has grappled with Google's rise and how some at Apple desired "optionality."

Giannandrea testified last month that Apple seriously considered a deal with Bing in 2018, following a conversation between Apple CEO Tim Cook and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella that led to further discussions between the two companies.

WEEKLY FEATURE : Jose Mari Chan And The Christmas Anthem