“Implicit in the WWDC keynote this week is Apple’s effort to reduce reliance on Google for search, and to answer the complaints about the lack of features by those who have adopted the Android platform,” Gene Steinberg writes for The Tech Night Owl. “The most blatant example of the former was putting Bing search in Spotlight. The trend had started with Siri, and it’s clear Apple and Microsoft are working more closely together than ever nowadays.”
“Adding DuckDuckGo, a search engine that promises not to track you, as another option under OS X, must further dilute Google’s prospects. Sure, if Google remains the default when OS X Yosemite is released, and previous defaults settings would likely be retained, that will still give the world’s number one search engine the upper hand, but in an environment where there’s more to lose,” Steinberg writes. “In passing, I wonder why Apple doesn’t just buy DuckDuckGo, though that might cause a political problem with Microsoft. But the price has to be real cheap.”
“In any case, the message is clear. Besides, Siri is already using Bing, so Google has been out of the picture there for a while. Indeed, Google reportedly earns more money via the Apple connection than from Android, so this has to be an ongoing problem for them,” Steinberg writes. “Beyond search engines, Apple’s new posture of opening up iOS to more third-party opportunities goes far to eliminate the features that many may prefer on Android [customizable keyboards, for just one example]… The other reason Android users may prefer their gear is that the screens are larger, sometimes much larger, than an iPhone. But that state of affairs is widely expected to change with the iPhone 6, which may come in 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch versions. That appears to leave Android users with fewer excuses not to jump ship…”
Much more in the full article here.
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