> THE SHIFT
MATT BOLTON thinks it might finally be time for Apple to offer its own search engine, even if we wouldn’t trust it at first
YOU MAY HAVE noticed recently, as many have, that Google search is increasingly ropey. Unsurprisingly, the first result for any given Google search query eats up the majority of clicks from that search, and anything that’s not on the first visible set of results on the screen (or “below the fold”, to borrow a print newspaper term) sees a colossal drop off in clicks from searchers. What you’ve probably seen in Google results is that the entire first screen is now made up of multiple paid results, Google shopping recommendations, alternative search suggestions, and exhortations to watch YouTube — so even the first ACTUAL search result is often pushed below the fold. The thing that Google believes best answers your question is relegated to a space that Google’s own data must tell it massively reduces your likelihood to see it.
ONE FUNDAMENTAL FACTOR IS: THERE’S NO COMPETITION T H AT SCARES GOOGLE
One of the fundamental factors is: there’s no competition that scares Google. The company clearly feels safe spoiling the quality of its product to make more money, because it doesn’t believe people will go elsewhere. Not to Bing. Not to DuckDuckGo. It actually has been afraid they’ll go to ChatGPT, so it frantically launched its own artificial intelligence (AI) competitor to integrate into search. Whew, problem solved, now back to the deteriorating normal service.
We all know the only company that has the influence to terrify Google. Apple has supposedly dabbled with a search engine in the past, though if one were in a cynical mood, one might believe that its primary purpose was to push Google into paying even more to be the default search engine on iPhone. And those billions are just one reason why Apple probably won’t want to switch from Google in practice. It also seems likely to be a nightmare of anti–competitive accusations, given that Apple is currently facing court cases about its platform control on multiple fronts. And it carries a huge
