It is no secret that Google spends huge amounts of money to position its search engine among the main browser and mobile phone manufacturers in the world. The Mountain View-based company is aware that fewer and fewer people are wasting time changing their default search engine, so they are looking for ways to maintain their domain. Specifically, the strategy is to use your wallet.
The search giant spends billions of dollars paying such important players as Apple, Samsung or Mozilla so that Google continues to be its default search engine. If any of them decide to go with Bing or create their own search engine, Google would lose a percentage of share that would translate into a large loss for its main source of income: the advertising market.
Google paid $26 billion to other manufacturers to be the default search engine
Until now, we had estimates of the amounts that Google paid to different market players to ensure its dominance. Specifically, it was estimated that Apple earned $15 billion a year to keep Google as the default search engine in Safari. However, The real figure is even higher: 18 billion dollars.
The figure has been published in the antitrust trial that is being held against Google in the United States. Google pays $18 billion to be the default search engine on iOS, which dominates mobile phone markets such as the United States. This leaves Bing and other competitors with very little room to act.
However, the figure that Google pays each year is even higher if we add Samsung or Mozilla to the equation. The amount rises to 26.3 billion dollars if we include Apple, Samsung, Mozilla and other manufacturers in which the big G is placed as the default search engine.
There is still no ruling in this trial, so it cannot be determined whether Google forms a monopoly. What is certain is that the firm uses 30% of its annual profit to maintain its status. We will see how it ends and what measures could be imposed against the company.