Reuters
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Apple is “actively looking at” reshaping the Safari internet browser on its gadgets to concentrate on AI-powered search engines, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, a transfer that might chip away at Google’s dominance in the profitable search market.
Apple government Eddy Cue testified in the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust case in opposition to Alphabet, saying searches on Safari fell for the primary time final month, which he attributed to customers more and more turning to AI, in accordance to the report.
Google is the default search engine on Apple’s browser, a coveted place for which it pays Apple roughly $20 billion yearly, or about 36% of its search promoting income generated by means of the Safari browser, analysts have estimated.
Losing that place may heap stress on Google simply because it faces fierce competitors from AI startups similar to OpenAI and Perplexity. Apple has already struck a take care of OpenAI to provide ChatGPT as an choice in Siri, whereas Google is making an attempt to safe an settlement by mid-year to embed its Gemini AI know-how in Apple’s newest gadgets.
Alphabet shares fell 6%, whereas Apple was down about 2%. Both firms and the DoJ didn’t reply to Reuters’ requests for remark.
Cue mentioned he believes AI search suppliers, together with OpenAI and Perplexity AI, will finally substitute commonplace search engines similar to Google, and that Apple will add these gamers as choices in Safari in the longer term, in accordance to the report.
“We will add them to the list – they probably won’t be the default,” Bloomberg News cited Cue as saying.
Last month, Google reassured jittery tech traders that its AI investments had been powering returns at its essential advert enterprise after its first-quarter revenue and income beat expectations.
“The loss of exclusivity at Apple should have very severe consequences for Google even if there are no further measures,” D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria mentioned.
“Many advertisers have all of their search advertising with Google because it is practically a monopoly with almost 90% share. If there were other viable alternatives for search, many advertisers could move much of their ad budgets away from Google to these other venues.”