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Apple is speeding up the efforts to develop its own search technology.
Apple may also be stepping up its efforts to develop its search engine, as per reports. A media report suggests that the project could have begun with the hiring of John Giannandrea, Google’s former Head of Search in 2018.
This could also lead to improvements in the functionality of Apple’s AI assistant Siri based on a dedicated search tool. A major indicator of Apple’s focus on its search technology is the iOS 14 functionality that shows Apple's own search results when using the home screen search box.
Another major giveaway are Apple’s frequent job advertisements for search-related developers.
According to people monitoring Applebot, Apple’s web-crawler has been more active in recent months, suggesting that it has been developed to include more functionality apart from simply serving Siri and Spotlight results.
One of the major reasons for Apple speeding up the process could be the upcoming antitrust lawsuit against Google in the United States. The US Department of Justice, along with eleven state Attorneys General has filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Google earlier this month.
One of the major allegations faced by the tech giant as part of the lawsuit, is its deal with Apple.
The Complaint alleges that Google has “unlawfully maintained monopolies in search and search advertising” by “entering into long-term agreements with Apple that require Google to be the default – and de facto exclusive – general search engine on Apple’s popular Safari browser and other Apple search tools.”
“Under the current agreement between Apple and Google, which has a multi-year term, Apple must make Google’s search engine the default for Safari, and use Google for Siri and Spotlight in response to general search queries,” reads the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that Google pays Apple “billions of dollars” as part of the agreement with “public estimates ranging around $8–12 billion.”
It further alleges that the revenues from the deal makes up of nearly 15-20 per cent of Apple’s worldwide net income.
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