Apple, with some vertical integration, to buy search engine DuckDuckGo wants to make it the default browser in iOS and Mac. Even though this would put at risk $7-8 Billion in Apple’s revenue, this could also cost Google $15 Billion a year.
According to Barron’s story, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi said that Google is the dominant force in search today. However, it remains uncomfortably dependent on Bing to act as a counterweight to Google—hence our suggestion that Apple acquires its own search engine.
If Apple had its own search engine, it could not capture the revenue coming from Google which is north of $7 billion annually, to be the default search engine on iOS. However, Google makes $25 billion in ad revenue from searches on iPhones, iPads, and Macs. And Sacconaghi thinks if Apple had its own search engine, it could cost Google most of it. Also, for Cupertino based giant Apple Inc. it would just take a week’s worth of cash flow which could be about $1 billion.
One thing that would be really beneficial for Apple is the fact that DuckDuckGo focuses a lot on privacy and the same is with Apple. While on the other hand, Google is under the constant target of privacy lawsuits and legal actions in both the European Union and the United States of America. In fact in the United States, it’s currently experiencing a $5 billion class-action lawsuit. Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten how Apple has always been in love with vertical integration, to be able to owe full solutions stack to its customers.
Everyone knows that Google is the leader in search space and has always supported it. So it might happen that they anyways switch to Google. Thus, Apple should not forget that it could confront a lot of antitrust attention by buying a substantial player in search. Even though Google owns almost all of it but, DuckDuckGo is number four. Alongside this, it is also true that never really does acquisitions for tens or hundreds of million dollars. It only has an eye for small but strategically important businesses.
A question to ask here is, does Apple really wants a more agonizing connection with Google as most of the giant technologies now exist in a sort of frenemy state?
Open wars, like that of Apple and Microsoft, is a story of the past. So it’s obvious that Google, which is completely on-the-offensive, would fight Apple’s position in the United States and even elsewhere by investing more resources in Pixels. Such an open war with Google will ultimately lead Apple to lose more than it will gain.
Source :- https://elinajohn01.blogspot.com/2020/06/apple-could-cost-google-15-billion-by.html
