Google-sjef Sundar Pichai

Apple og Google har hatt en hemmelig avtale seg imellom som gjør at Google er standard søkemotor på iPhones. Avtalen er verd titalls milliarder dollar per år.

Now, the New York Times has outlined one deal between Apple and Google that is reportedly an area of focus in the case. The deal cemented Google as the primary search engine on Apple’s devices, funneling massive amounts of traffic to the search giant.

Google har 90 prosent av verdens søktrafikk og kontrollerer en stor del av annonsemarkedet. Ved å være den foretrukne søkemotor på iPhones, bevarer Google dominansen.

Det er New York Times som avslører avtalen, som var gjensidig bekreftende:

When Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai, the chief executives of Apple and Google, were photographed eating dinner together in 2017 at an upscale Vietnamese restaurant called Tamarine, the picture set off a tabloid-worthy frenzy about the relationship between the two most powerful companies in Silicon Valley.

As the two men sipped red wine at a window table inside the restaurant in Palo Alto, their companies were in tense negotiations to renew one of the most lucrative business deals in history: an agreement to feature Google’s search engine as the preselected choice on Apple’s iPhone and other devices. The updated deal was worth billions of dollars to both companies and cemented their status at the top of the tech industry’s pecking order.

Now, the partnership is in jeopardy. Last Tuesday, the Justice Department filed a landmark lawsuit against Google — the U.S. government’s biggest antitrust case in two decades — and homed in on the alliance as a prime example of what prosecutors say are the company’s illegal tactics to protect its monopoly and choke off competition in web search.

Justisdepartementet varslet nylig en antitrustsak mot Google. 11 delstater er med på søksmålet.

Juristene i Justis ville vente en stund til før de gikk til sak, men justisminister William Barr ville ha action nå. Juristene har holdt på med saken i ett års tid.

NYT: Google and Apple Formed Agreement to Control the Internet

 
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