“Having gone ‘thermonuclear war’ on Google after it discovered that it was following Apple into smartphones, Apple may be about to turn the tables on its Mountain View rivals — by entering the search engine business,” Luke Dormehl reports for Cult of Mac.’
“Apple is currently looking to hire an engineering project manager for something called Apple Search. The position would be based in San Francisco, and requires a program manager to oversee backend operations for a “search platform supporting hundreds of millions of users,” Dormehl reports. “The ad notes that the successful candidate will, ‘Play a part in revolutionizing how people use their computers and mobile devices.'”
“In late 2012, Apple hired search guru William Stasior: a veteran of both Amazon and AltaVista. Then, last year, developer Jan Moesen discovered a web-crawling bot originating from Apple’s servers,” Dormehl reports. “It’s worth pointing out that Apple’s long-running search agreement with Google for its Safari browser expires this year.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related article:
Apple hires Amazon A9 exec Stasior to run Siri unit – October 15, 2012
I love this idea.
Form a team, study everything google does.
Then do it better with less intrusion and less spying.
Apple is really good at taking a product and making huge improvements …. i.e. Walkman to iPod!
Apple wouldn’t need to spy because it’s making all of its money from hardware. Apple can afford to run a non-intrusive search engine A good search engine would merely be icing on the cake for Apple, and not have to be the whole cake. Once Google’s ad business goes bye-bye, that’s it. There’s nothing much left to make money from.
Hmmmm…. I don’t believe this is real, however I hate the idea if it is…. As Tim Cook explained, when your product is information, personal privacy goes out the window.
Leave search to the slimy companies.
But Apple’s products would still be iOS and Mac OS. They don’t sell information.
You don’t understand how search works. It’s ad supported, for ads to work they need to be targeted to the user. for ads to be targeted to the user they need to be fed personal info about the user..
Search is not where Apple should be.
Search is ad supported until now. Apple might want to change the rules, once again!
Study everything Google does?
You mean serve up ads instead of search results?
I hope not.
I hate what Google search has become. If Apple can deliver results that actually answer my search queries, I will be forever grateful.
I am hoping for this but it better be ready for prime time when released or called Beta, unlike what happened with Maps. There was no point dishing unnecessary and completely avoidable hurt to the brand like that. Both the fault of Forstall & Cook (before he got his CEO legs).
Maps was a mess ….. We had an industry specific program for our roofing business that used Google Maps and then when Apple switched from Ggole to Apple Mpas the program went downhill, our images which we relied on heavily, we’re not as good ….. About a year later the developer put in option for Google Mpas and we were back in business but it was a rough year for images …..
If we were downtown Chicago it would of been good but in the burbs images were not so good!
” . . . would of . . . .”? Wow.
I think Apple has gotten the message on releasing not-quite-ready software. Notice the new Photos app (iPhoto replacement) that was announced at WWDC hasn’t seen the light of day yet.
I’ve been wondering about that thing.
iPhoto needs replacing ASAP, but yes, replacing it with more of the same (glitchy, under-powered, etc.) would sink Photo the day it launched.
Apple should (and to fulfil Apple’s brand promise, must) own the photo space. A large share of our photos come from Apple devices, and Apple has all the ingredients to make it magic (they make literally all of the hardware we use to manage, view, store, and display our photos).
All Apple has to do is release it, but not make it the default search engine until at least one iteration of a major version. People wouldn’t complain so much if it wasn’t forced on them in the initial release. That’s basically what Apple should have done with Maps. If Apple does implement this it would be a huge blow to Google.
Apple should just buy DuckDuckgo. Love not being tracked.
How about buying Yahoo!
If Apple just wants a search engine, then Yahoo! is not the way to go. They have too many other irons in the fire.
NewsFlash – Yahoo is not in the search business anymore because they don’t run on .NET and microsoft does. so no way that apple buys yahoo’s borrowed microsoft .NET MSSQL stuff.
Seeing as DuckDuckGo is open source: I don’t think there will be any buying. Partnering and joining in on the DuckDuckGo open source project: THAT I can see and like!
Agreed. Good point.
Please, please, please, please, Apple. If Microsoft can have its own search engine, why not Apple? It’s not as though Apple can’t afford to have one of its own. At least take over Duck, Duck Go as a start. I don’t think Apple really needs its own search engine, but I’d just like to see them take smug Google down a peg.
I’m sick and tired of Wall Street giving Google a premium for having almost no competition. Wall Street is always rubbing Apple’s face in the mud for having smartphone competition while Google sits back and laughs like it’s untouchable or something. I want to see Google sweat for a change. Would it really be all that much trouble to keep a search engine running when a company is pulling in over ten billion dollars in profit every quarter? An Apple search engine would have to put a kink in Google’s ad business because the mobile market is where everything, including profits, is heading.
Keep in mind that Microsoft’s BingoBoingo search engine leaches off both Google and Yahoo results. It’s a FAIL all on its own and MS know it.
It’s interesting that Apple added Duck Duck Go as an option in both iOS 8 and Yosemite – just before their contract with Google is about to end?
Could this be Apple trying to help build up Duck Duck Go’s database and services before buying them?
They certainly need to if that is going to be an option. At the moment any DDG based Apple search would be crucified. As a start maybe but as a finished item certainly not suitable as is.
As I posted above: DuckDuckGo is open source, therefore not for sale. But joining in on the project would be brilliant of Apple.
It’s an option in Mavericks, too (latest build of Safari has it).
“…on Google after it discovered that it was following Apple into smartphones..”
following? how about stealing…Steve-o has a different perspective than “following”:
“I’m going to destroy android, because it’s a stolen product.”
^had
Apple could do search so much better than google, and I hope they will. Remember when we all started using google because it was simple and ad free and gave the best results?
Duck Duck go is no there yet when trying to pull up the most timely relevant content. I use DUCK by default and find myself having to search again on google to get the results I want when I am looking for something specific, such as syntax for javascript code, css, HTML, etc.
Would love if Apple could differentiate between different types of support forums, so official is separated from 3rd party answers when searching for tech support.
“I use DUCK by default and find myself having to search again on google to get the results I want when I am looking for something specific..”
that has been my experience also.
Me too especially for pic research where it is just terrible.
Well if it is to be introduced later this year then I rather think it might just also explain why siri has been a little sluggish on its upgrade path of late. I would expect them to be deeply integrated and thus announced together.
I have had reasonably good success with DDG. I seldom find any reason to try a search on Google, Yahoo, or Bing.
I do not deny that Google Search can provide better results. But you have to get past the paid postings, first, and then sort through a lot of duplicate listings. Google Search could be a heck of a lot better than it is, and I am hoping that Apple will show everyone just how lax Google has been over the past five years or so.
Very rarely do I have to use anything but DDG, but those times when I do, it is usually for pictures. That said, this search engine has improved by leaps and bounds. If it’s good for 90%+ of the time, I’d say that’s good enough.
I’ve said for a loooong time that Apple hasn’t truly gone “thermonuclear” on Google until they hit them where it counts, by coming out with their own search engine to rival Google’s.
And I’m not talking just about iPhone searching, or Mac searching.
I’m talking search.apple.com, usable by anyone, anywhere, on any device.
Roll that out, make it the default engine on all Apple products and BOOM!! Instant multi-billion-dollar hit to Google’s bottom line.
If it goes well, non-Apple customers will start using it. More billions from Google’s bottom line. Etc, etc…
I hope Apple entirely succeeds.
But I have to point out that Apple’s search engine reputation is crap. The best way to search the Apple website is with Google, which of course is shameful. If Apple can actually kick butt in search for a change, what a revelation that will be.
Duck Duck go is default for me and I have been generally happy…still go to google from time to time. I’m assuming as we all use Duck Duck Go it gets better and better…
That will be amazing, if Apple can pull it off…
Sent from my iPhone
>