Will Bing oust Google on iPhone?
I tried hard to resist adding any more column inches to the Apple hype cycle ahead of next week's expected release of the company's tablet computer, but I confess to utter failure.
The reason is because this latest rumour, if it turns out to be true, signals a big shift for Apple, Google and Microsoft, with credible sources talking it up here in Silicon Valley.
The cynic in me also says it could also be some monumental mind game between Apple and Google.
The story is that Apple is set to replace Google as the default search engine on its iPhone with Microsoft's Bing.
Bloomberg says "the talks have been under way for weeks, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details aren't public. The negotiations may not be concluded quickly and might still fall apart, the people said."
Yep, the "maybe aye maybe no" situation did set off a wee alarm bell in my head.
At the moment, Google, the world's most popular search engine, is the default setting on the phone. If users want to search using Bing, they have to download an application and install it on the device.
A lot of briefings have been going on behind the scenes with a number of financial blogs reporting the collaboration on the verge of being a done deal.
Jim Goldman of CNBC reports "Every time you do a Google search from Apple's iPhone Safari and a user clicks an ad, Apple gets a payment. Microsoft, this source tells me, is willing to throw much more money to Apple to ensure that they displace Google as the default engine. If that's the case, it is an absolutely key point to getting a deal done."
The Wall Street Journal's Yukari Iwatani Kane and Ethan Smith put a bit more meat on the bones:
"Apple's iPhone, for example, currently closely integrates Google's mapping and search technology, but a person familiar with the matter said Apple was in serious discussions with Microsoft Corp. to incorporate its Bing search engine into the iPhone as the default search and map technologies."
Apple, Microsoft and Google have nothing to say on the issue officially.
Mobile advertising and mobile search is a growing market and one Google will not want to concede to Bing which is slowly but surely increasing in popularity.
Nielsen Co's latest figures showed that of those who use mobile search, 86% used Google compared to 11% for Bing.
The number of iPhones and iPod Touches are said to number 70 million. No doubt next week that figure will be substantially updated.
So what lies behind this possible collaboration between Microsoft and Apple and the apparently growing rift between former friends Apple and Google?
"It's a case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend," Greg Sterling of Search Engine Land told the BBC.
"The Apple/Google competition and increasing rivalry has taken over from the Apple/Microsoft competition as the thing that everyone was preoccupied by."
There is little doubt that former allies Apple and Google find themselves increasingly fighting over the same share of the pie.
They now compete head-to-head in the phone arena with the Nexus One versus the iPhone and Android operating system going up against the iPhone OS.
Last summer, Apple refused to approve two Google apps for sale to iPhone users, raising questions about how much of a Google presence Apple would allow on its devices.
"From a Steve Jobs point of view, Apple wants a firewall between Google and its existing clients. If this deal happens, it's about separating Google from Apple customers," said principal analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group.
When Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple's board last year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs' statement at the time seemed to betray a deterioration in the relationship:
"Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple's core businesses, Eric's effectiveness as an Apple board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings."
"Microsoft and Apple are seen as the traditional rivals here and anytime the two do anything together it's a 'man bites dog' story," Mr Enderle told the BBC.
"Apple recognises the threat Google represents and Apple is responding to it."
If the deal goes ahead, industry watchers say Google will more than likely still be an option for users but they will have to make the effort to select it themselves.
"The average iPhone user is going to be more sophisticated and better educated than the average PC user and so 'switching back' will be a behaviour many would likely engage in," said Search Engine Land's Mr Sterling.
He predicts that Google will stay the default search engine with Bing being offered as an option.
So does this latest salvo bring into stark release where the battle lines are being drawn here in Silicon Valley?
Or is someone just messing with our heads?
© 2012~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~00~RS~)
Comments
More irrelevant guff about Apple. To be followed with more irrelevant guff about Apple. These blogs don't cover the A to Z of technology, just the A to E.
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"If users want to search using Bing, they have to download an application and install it on the device."
Er... or you could just go to bing.com
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Man oh man, if Apple and Microsoft do team up, and Bing is already powering Yahoo, then it just shows what a threat everybody sees in Google. When Chrome OS comes out it'll become a genuine rival to Microsoft, more so than Apple, which makes beautiful hardware and is a lifestyle "brand".
I wonder at what point in the future "the Internet" will be replaced with "Google", in the same way a lot of us here in the UK say "hoover" rather than "vacuum cleaner".
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@ Phil90125
I agree with you, although to be fair it seems Apple/Twitter coverage on these blogs has been toned down a bit... although perhaps I speak too soon... we shall see! I still want to see more blogs regarding the new technologies/gadgets coming out of silicon valley and less about Google/Apple/Twitter.
A very interesting blog nonetheless. Reminds me of the irony that Sony use Microsoft Windows as their operating system on their pc's and yet are in competition with them in the gaming market! On a similar note, Firefox is in competition with Chrome, yet still uses Google as it's homepage (as I understand it, this is how Firefox gets a lot of it's revenue).
To be honest Apple should be focusing on upgrading the Safari browser. Whilst it isn't painfully slow, improvements could certainly be made in that department.
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Sorry to fuel the debate futher, but could people stop moaning about "how much BBC cover Apple" - its getting a bit old now. Apple make interesting products and therefore people read articles about them (including you! If you dont want to read about Apple, dont click on the link with the lower case i in it...)
Anyway, this article is just as much about Microsoft and Google as it is Apple, and if you dont want Maggie / Rory to mention all of those three, the Techonolgy section might be quite a bit smaller...
Maggie - Good blog
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I'd also like to chip in along with TimmyNorfolk and say the people complaining about the BBC covering Apple are even more boring than the Windows fanboys who constantly harp on about how great Windoze is.
It's a blog. You don't like it? Don't read it. And don't moan about "your licence fee being wasted", you sound like REALLY sore losers.
Good Blog Maggie - keep it up.
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@3 - I doubt that Chrome is going to provide a serious challenge to Windows or even OSX. From what I have heard I am not sure that you could use Chrome as a serious development or gaming platform as it seems to be designed around using Google Apps. If I were a company, I would have serious misgivings about tying myself too closely to Google.
Google has far too much power in the search engine market and it would be good to see a decent rival like Bing out there.
Don't get me wrong, I am not a Google hater. As a web deveoper I use a lot of Google's offerings - but I like to pick and choose which one's I use. With a rival search engine it would also be good to hear something different from clients other than 'get you get me first on the list on Google'!!
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I think this is a shame if it happens.
Bing is a terrible search engine in my opinion - compare a search in both BIng and Google and they're quite different, with Google actually being the search engine that brings back more relevant results.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
The main point I see is just how far the market has moved away from seeing an OS and applications installed on a desktop or laptop as being where the action (profit) is, towards seeing web based services as the future.
As the desktop OS market becomes less important so the traditional rivals are looking to gang up against a new one that currently dominates web services and revenues; though this Apple/MS alliance (on the iPhone at least) looks more like a damage limitation exercise rather than a genuine attempt to expand their own market shares.
Google’s Chrome OS (essentially a more powerful browser with links to Google’s on-line apps and services) represents a serious threat to both MS and Apple, particularly as computing moves evermore onto handheld devices & net-books, online apps and storage up in the ‘cloud’.
Google of course already have Android as their OS for mobiles, whilst their Google Docs, Picasa etc are a threat to both Apple & MS desktop applications.
As the handheld online market becomes more important then Apple’s main hardware competitors will become Palm, Samsung & Nokia etc whilst the providers of online services attract the lucrative, ongoing, revenues via advertising or services such as iTunes.
I can’t see Google shrinking in revenue or importance in the next few years, but Apple and MS can certainly sense that they’re threatened.
Apple and MS of course may be rivals in some markets, but when Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 he persuaded MS to invest $150 million in Apple; Apple helped MS produce Office for Macs and so on.
Any enmity between the two exists more in the minds of their respective supporters than in reality.
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What will happen to the Google maps application on the iphone?
What impact would changing to Bing have on all the apps that depend on the google Maps/API?
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Hang on, changed by default.....well that doesn't sound something that the user (read consumer) has much choice over. Seems to me that this sounds familiar to the MS and IE wrangle.
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Maggie -- Microsoft is as much as a competitor to Apple as Google so it makes no sense for Apple to switch, especially considering that the average consumer is accustomed to Google Search.
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Mindbrix wrote:
'It speak so much about Microsoft's corporate culture that noone at any point felt able to say, "Bing? Are you having a laugh?"
I am every time I hear it!'
As oppose to GOOGLE
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I am an IT teacher in a secondary school. One of my 12-year old students recently wrote that "you have to have permission from the head of Google to use the internet"
Visions of things to come...
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9. At 4:31pm on 21 Jan 2010, Mindbrix wrote:
I simply can't take that name seriously. Was it the last 4-letter .com domain name available?
It speak so much about Microsoft's corporate culture that noone at any point felt able to say, "Bing? Are you having a laugh?"
...you mean just like 'Zune'?
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@Matt
The default search engine may be changed, but you can choose which you actually use and even if you couldn't you could always just go to the website. There's no anti trust issues like MS had.
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I agree that the Microsoft seem to have real issues when it comes naming their products and services. 'Zune' is indeed a wonderful example of how not to do it. My immediate reaction to 'Bing' was also not favourable. They are starting a 'battle' at a disadvantage just by the name of their service.
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"The average iPhone user is going to be more sophisticated and better educated than the average PC user and so 'switching back' will be a behaviour many would likely engage in,"
So the average iPhone user is more sophisticated and better educated than 90% of computer users?
Is this what passes in the Mac community for intelligent "sophisticated" comment?
No wonder they are held in such disdain
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@7 Jedra - Chrome OS isn't meant to be similar to Windows in most ways. It's designed to be an OS that boots in 10 seconds and provide a slim-lined set of features (like Google Apps) with almost everything being carried out through the browser or via your internet connection, i.e nothing really being stored locally. It's not really meant for the big quad core, 8Gb RAM machines (although it would obviously work). It's meant for netbooks, laptops and other larger mobile or underpowered devices which the majority of people only use as glorified web browsers, for which Windows is 90% overkill. You're right though that DirectX games will not be in its remit.
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@19 - I was just about to post the same comment - it's laughable!
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"The average iPhone user is going to be more sophisticated and better educated than the average PC user and so 'switching back' will be a behaviour many would likely engage in,"
What complete nonsense. The vast majority of iPhone users own them because it is fashionable to do so, and are utterly enchanted by the rampant consumerism the device encourages through the pay-per-app approach. How is this a mark of sophistication and/or education?
I would love to see the stats on number of iPhone owners with PhDs as a % of the total post-grad population. Someone has mistaken the ability to own a toy with the capaity to understand and utilise its functions I think.
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iPhone users more sophisticated? What a joke! Any idiot with cash to waste could go into a store and ask for an iPhone.
I takes somebody who is a bit more IT literate, and less likely to be suckered by marketing to realise that there are plenty of products available that far outclass the iPhone and are cheaper too.
Take the HTC HD2 for example. It has almost twice the processing power and memory, and costs less, not to mention that it many would regard it as being more asthetically pleasing as well.
I would argue that the average person who buys an iPhone is either IT illiterate, or simply can't be bothered owning a phone with many features. They want a mobile that just works without them having to bother changing settings.
This is exactly why the average iPhone user will just do whatever apple tells them to do.
Besides, as a software developer, I'm required to use search engines on a daily basis, looking for advanced and often difficult to find content on the internet. As far as I have found, bing performs just as well as google, if not better.
As a technology journalist, you should really do a bit more research before spouting nonsense.
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This could mean the end for iPhone as the dominant choice of phone. Google's Android platform is already a very close 2nd and now they have their own hardware (with a little help from HTC) I think you may see the Nexus talking over in a year or so.
Saying that I own a HTC Hero running Android and an iPhone and I have to say that iPhone is my phone of choice. Usability and performance being the deal maker. If the Nexus is faster and means running two apps at once though ... I may change.
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Perhaps more exposure and revenue might encourage Microsoft to improve Bing's web crawling. A quick Google (or even Bing) for "Bing not indexing my site" will show you why many webmasters hate Bing.
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David, I agree - Bing is indeed slow at indexing websites. If Apple did go ahead with this, I think we would see a massive shift in Market Share within weeks.
That kind of real estate within an application is worth a lot of money to Bing or Google as people will automaticly use whichever Search Engine is made available to them.
However IMO it should be an option when the iPhone is initially installed, just like the first time Internet Explorer is run.
That way there is no favourtism, I wouldn't be suprised if we see the competition commission ending up getting involved in this. If they have a place to?
Cheers,
Anthony
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@ dave sparrow
I was leaning more towards them having the control over my phone. Does this mean that one day I will just launch the web browser and click on search and up pops Bing?
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@Matt
I imagine it would happen as part of a software update or even just on new iPhones. They had the control to set Google as the default search in the past too, so there's not really anything new to this, just the choice of search engine to be used. All this can be changed in Settings->Safari->Search Engine too and of course this is still all just a rumour.
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Regarding the iPhone comment about being smarted than the average PC user.It's a stupid comment, but the writer is clearly using the causality that education is judged based on amount of disposable income. This is incorrect, because anyone can save up for an iPhone. You don't even need a high paying job to afford one.
The same comment may work for "the average private Yacht user is smarter than the average fisherman. lol.
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The iPhone is so riddled with worms and viruses you are probably best off not searching the internet on it.
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@AceofSpades25
Your comment lost all credibility as soon as you mentioned a WinMO phone, unless the owner of a winmo phone is a power user im sorry but it is incredibly hard to get on with a current winmo phone on a day to day basis. Dont get me wrong the HD2 is a very powerful device with the looks to boot. However the OS is a letdown.
@hon3stly
So far to my knowledge only jailbroken iPhones have been effected by viruses, unless you know some inside info.
I'm an iphone owner who compared a winmo device with the iphone and picked the iphone after 2 mins use and about 20 mins use of the winmo device. It is just so much easier to use, yes there are more powerful phones out there but are they as easy to live with as the iPhone, if there is one i'd pick it. Just as long as it does not have any flavour of WinMo on it
Also the average iPhone user comment perhaps needed some more thinking through.
I am prepared to get flamed for this comment aswel
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The iPhone is so riddled with worms and viruses you are probably best off not searching the internet on it.
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This is incorrect, the only way anything can get onto the phone is via a jailbroken phone with SSH enabled (the SSH app has to be downloaded first) on top of this IF the SSH password has been changed it doesn't work.
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I hope Bing does make inroads into Google. Like Microsoft in the OS market, Google are becoming somewhat pushy in the search engine market.
Can you imagine the uproar if Microsoft had mounted camera on cars and driven around the streets! For some reason Google are perceived as the good guys - I think not.
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AceofSpades25 I have an HTC HD2 and an iPhone (the HTC is a work phone) The HTC is a disaster, a car crash, an embarrassment ... without a doubt the worst device I've ever had the misfortune to use. That's when it works (though to be fair, when it doesn't work it often seems to be the fault of my network provider). The OS is appalling, both WinMob and the HTC overlay. The iPhone on the other hand is a total joy to use. Poor battery life perhaps - but that's partly down the the fact that I use it all the time.
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Hi Apple,
Read this please as it is soooo important and very relevant. Even though Bing would be default and they are offering you more money, you won't get it as everyone loves Google and I don't think Bing is any good. So no one would click and you would get less money than now! So keep Google for both mine and your sake
HomaJay
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I had an extensive conversation with a very senior person from Microsoft EMEA over the weekend and they confirmed this story is absolutely true.
It isn't just the dominance/reliance of Google search which is annoying to Apple, but also the entry into hardware manufacture.
Although Microsoft will not benefit from the sort of revenues Google currently receive from iphone searches, this marks the start of a concerted effort (last seen in the 1990's) to reduce an organisations control in the market.
Consumer power will ultimately decide whether people stick with their Google apps or move over to the dark side of Microsoft (bing is actually not that bad).
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@22 I have a PhD and have owned an iPhone since last Friday. I really dont think which mobile phone i use is any reflection on my intelligence.
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@28tabey
"As oppose to GOOGLE"
Actually 28tabey, Google's name is derived from the word Googol, which is the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeros in decimal representation.
Quite an apt name I think, as opposed to BING which has no meaning whatsoever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googol
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I find that Microsoft acquisitions which become Bing-badged such as Multimap seem to be slower on Bing than before, so no thanks I'll stick to Google - apparently there are reports that there are now almost as many individuals using Firefox as main browser in preference to IE
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"The average iPhone user is going to be more sophisticated and better educated than the average PC user"
Eh?
So falling for a bunch of marketing guff which convinces you to part with the best part of £500 for a phone which isn't very good makes you more sophisticated and better educated?
Hmmm, interesting....
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GM4Lt5k24s
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Apple's success is built on the ease of use of it's products and OS. You simply don't need masses of technical know-how to use Macs, iPods, or iPhones. This is why all the software developers and IT workers hate them: it makes their own technical knowledge look superfluous to the average consumer, even though they aren't. I'm a graphic designer, and so old that I learned to set type with hot metal, long before computers changed the design industry: now anyone with Adobe software thinks they can do graphic design, so I understand the irksome nature of this. But I could buy a piano tomorrow: it wouldn't automatically make me a concert pianist. The skills aren't installed along with the software.
As a designer, I obviously appreciate the design that goes into Apple's products: I happen to think they look better, and last longer, than the competition. But I'm also enough of a realist not to buy something that's more expensive just because it looks good: I want the best tools for my job. I don't want to waste my time learning more than necessary about how my tools work: I want to get on with the job I love and what my clients are paying me for, hence I prefer working on a Mac. Macs are fairly 'idiot-proof', which is probably why PC/Windows users consider us idiots:) But computers have moved on from being the preserve of a few geeks to something almost everyone now has, both at home and work. And Apple have taken the right direction, designing everything for ease of use for the non-technically minded. How many people watch their TV's without having any idea how it actually works? How many drive cars without knowing how to strip the engine (or even where to put the water, in my wife's case)?
This is the reason behind the passion for Apple: they just put more thought into the needs of the end user than their rivals.
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In life you get what you pay for.
If you want an idiot-proof computer that does specific things and works as soon as you press "on" then go for an Apple Mac. It will cost you a lot of money compared to the alternatives but you will be happy with your purchase. You will be restricted in terms of technology and software but there is happiness in slavery. You will be fed, clothed and watered but you will be expected to be loyal (in a technical sense).
If you want to explore the boundaries of computing, keep up to date with existing technologies and be free then buy a PC. You can customize it and pimp it out to your hearts desire. Windows, Linux, Chrome, who cares. Compared to Apple it can be incredibly cheap. It's your choice and your call. However with freedom comes the responsibility to fend for yourself. If something goes wrong (and it will - I assure you) then you need to understand your machine, the setup and whats happening or depend on a (trusted) third party to fix it for you. Thats the cost of freedom people.
My point however is this. There is something for everyone but nothing is perfect.
@Graphis
Most IT people won't touch Apple Computers because they have long memories of Mac nightmares. If something goes wrong with a Mac it's generally a call to Apple for a replacement. In the past Mac's have looked good but performed poorly (iMac) and IT pro's tend not to get sucked in as easily as the new consumer on the block.
Bing - not for me thanks. That's not to say I like Google as a company it's just that Google search does what I need. Apple using MS. Please!These two companies are so deeply connected that sometimes you can't see where one ends and one begins. Don't believe the fanboy hype.
Oh and I am a Web Developer (MS .Net) with an iPhone.
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@SuperG
My point exactly. Everyone needs the right tools that are right for them. In my case, I need a computer that lets me get right down to what I need it for, with no need to get 'under the hood'. My clients want to see a day's work for a day's pay, not hear that I've spent hours software patching, deleting spyware, or tinkering around, instead of getting on with their work.
It's not a question of getting 'sucked in' by marketing, nor is it a case of "OSX is better than Windows (or vice versa)": it's simply recognising that different people have different uses for computers. Mine is a means to an end: it gets me from A to B, with a smooth, trouble-free ride. And if I have to pay a bit more to lose the headache, I'm happy to do so. For developers and other IT pro's, my "headache" is their joy, the best bit about even having a computer.
For me, those who focus on the Apple Vs PC debate are completely missing the point: if I want to go sailing, I'd buy a boat, but if I just want to get to the other side of the river, I'd take the ferry.
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Different companies in different markets. Apple = pleasure non business use HW, Google SW orientation moving to HW. They are both well advised to stick with what they know. Apple and sexy HW, Google and its sexy SW.
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it is very simple to understand why apple have or haven't yet come to this decision,just to remind you folks google is bigger now and stronger it does't surprise me that apple sees the threat of google that is to say over the ten years or so the company itself has grown worldwide compared to apple which relatively i think still growing plus google is a billion dollar company and they have just done it in over ten years and no problems have occurred since ever since, with billions of dollars at their disposal what can't they do phones,computer tablets etc I SAY IT IS A WAKE UP CALL FOR APPLE THE SMALL GUY CALLED GOOGLE IS NOT TO BE LEFT UNCHECKED THEY ARE BIGGER AND THAN YOU APPLE FOR THAT THERE IS NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE
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In my world, Bing hardly even exists. On my PC and PDA my default browser is Opera, which has Google set as the default search engine. Bing (or MSN) is not even in the list that Opera supplies.
I can change my default browser, change my default search engine, and change my default home page. Surely iPhone users can do the same?
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