2023-09-26 21:17:00
Called to the stand on Tuesday to testify in the antitrust case against Google, a senior Apple official insisted that the famous search engine is the best product for its smartphone users, according to AFP.
Logo GoogleFoto: Shutterstock
On September 12, a historic trial opened against the Internet giant, accused by the US government of abusing its dominant position.
According to the Department of Justice, Google built its empire through illegal exclusivity agreements with companies like Samsung, Apple and Mozilla so that its tool would be installed by default on their devices and services and thus prevent any alternative from emerging.
“I don’t think anyone is as good as Google when it comes to online search,” Eddy Cue, an Apple vice president, told the court.
“There was no viable alternative to Google at the time. And we never really thought about choosing another one,” he added.
Cue referred to a series of deals that began in 2002: Google paid Apple billions of dollars for a prominent spot on its electronic devices.
The agreement was updated in 2016 so that the iPhone maker would receive a larger share of Google’s advertising revenue from its search engine through Safari, Apple’s web browser.
Cue’s testimony was only briefly public before it continued behind closed doors because companies were wary of sharing sensitive data.
Google has ten weeks of hearings to try to convince federal judge Amit Mehta that the government’s allegations are unfounded.
It is the first time US prosecutors have gone head-on at a major technology company since Microsoft was targeted more than two decades ago over the dominance of its Windows operating system.
The lawsuit will determine whether Google owes the success of its search engine to its performance or anti-competitive practices.
Hearings have already revealed that Google pays Apple and other companies $10 billion a year to secure its status as the default search engine on phones and web browsers.
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