Apple rumored to be going into search

Brucehankins

So it's come out recently that Apple is rumored to be going into search to compete with Google. This comes after recent antitrust hearings where it was highlighted that Google has maintained a contract with Apple to be the default search engine.

My question to all of you is, would you trust Apple for your search over Google if the product is 80% as capable? I know there are other products like Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo, but they don't have the market share or capabilities of Google. Apple is really the only company that has the potential and capital to disrupt Google's monopoly position.

CorvusRuber

Brucehankins would you trust Apple for your search over Google if the product is 80% as capable?

No. Apple is a hardware manufacturer, not a software company. Pretty sure that, sooner rather than later, their search service will guide you towards buying their hardware (by offering some extra features usable only on iThings or something like that).
And since I happen to think that Apple products are basically overpriced, underperfoming and unflexible crap, I'll pass.

brent

Brucehankins My question to all of you is, would you trust Apple for your search over Google if the product is 80% as capable?

I trust neither to do right by me.

WetGeek

Brucehankins it was highlighted that Google has maintained a contract with Apple to be the default search engine.

Just about every Linux distro I've ever installed has used Google as the default search engine in the browsers they include. This statement makes me wonder how many browser authors Google might be paying to do that.

I can't remember the last time I didn't need to change the default search engine from Google to DuckDuckGo for every browser in a distro.

DataDrake

CorvusRuber Apple is a hardware manufacturer, not a software company.

That's not even remotely true.

Apple writes device firmware: UEFI, Microcode
Apple writes operating systems: iOS, macOS, watchOS. tvOS, etc (and all of the drivers for their branded hardware devices)
Apple writes programming languages and compilers: Objective-C and Swift (LLVM)
Apple writes applications: Xcode, iTunes, iMovie, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, GarageBand, Final Cut Pro X, Logic Pro X, MainStage
Apple writes backend software: Siri, iCloud, iTunes, Apple TV, App Store (and related APIs), TimeMachine

And that's just what I can think of off the top of my head.

CorvusRuber Pretty sure that, sooner rather than later, their search service will guide you towards buying their hardware

They don't need to go that far. Siri is all the marketing they need. Apple is already a search provider through Siri. This would just be another way for consumers to gain access (and feed their algorithms).

CorvusRuber

DataDrake
Their main focus is hardware, not software.
And practically all of the software they write is for direct or indirect use with their hardware. It's a nice and extremely well working business strategy, but if you look at your own list there's probably two items (Objective-C and Swift) that can be used on non-Apple hardware.
For everything else, you need an apple-logoed gizmo.

Brucehankins

DataDrake does anybody really like Siri though? I honestly think I'd choose Bixby over Siri, and that's a pretty low bar. I mean setting multiple timers, really Siri?
I think they will advertise their own products and services, but only to a small extent. My guess would be they have an ad-supported model and a subscription plan rolled into one of their bundles with no advertising.

Brucehankins

CorvusRuber I would argue that Apple's main focus is services, mostly on the software they build and optimize for their hardware. iPhone sales are still high, but the US is their main market and it's starting to hit a saturation point. You can see the pivot to services and software with the announcement of the Apple One bundle, News+, TV+, and Radio that they've been pushing.
Like you said though, the software is almost entirely optimized and dedicated to the hardware they produce also.

DataDrake

CorvusRuber No it isn't. Their business relies 100% on the synergy (ugh) between hardware and software. Apple has always sold computers by appealing to both the hardware and software needs of their users. They make you buy the hardware by having features and form-factors you can't get anywhere else, and, at times, performance that you couldn't get anywhere else. They make you buy the software by having exclusives that you can't get on other platforms and by writing applications themselves that keep people on their hardware. They have always leveraged their software to make you have to buy their hardware.

CorvusRuber Their main source of income is not bare metal anymore like in Ye Good Old Days, but devices are still the only access point to the Appleverse....if you build a walled garden with custom built locks to enter, it's hard to think of key manufacturing as "not core" to your business.

Which by your own admission means that you can't write them off as just a hardware company.

kyrios

Apple is running a web crawler since 2014 at least so this project is not that recent, it was pretty obvious that soon or late they would develop it at a wide scale once their index is mature enough to be competitive.

Apple initially was a hardware manufacturer but nowadays their focus is to keep the control of their whole ecosystem they still design SoC and devices but this is just a piece of their business model, not their core activity which is much broader that just hardware.

CorvusRuber

kyrios not their core activity which is much broader that just hardware.

Data collection and service industry via custom build hardware ? Their main source of income is not bare metal anymore like in Ye Good Old Days, but devices are still the only access point to the Appleverse....if you build a walled garden with custom built locks to enter, it's hard to think of key manufacturing as "not core" to your business.

SOLUSfiddler

WetGeek
Same here!! Stupid repetitive hacking away at my keyboard!

Brucehankins

WetGeek I'm sure they have contracts with a large number of other companies to be the default. I'm also sure there are plenty of places that set Google as the default because of their market position. "It's clearly what the majority of users want, so why not just make it the default", just guessing how the line of thinking would go.

putzerstammer

There's an interesting Apple story here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.

George

I don't really trust Apple, DuckDuckGo or StartPage are good search engines. But Apple really have big capital to disrupt Google monopoly. Perhaps this will help the market, but not user privacy

SOLUSfiddler

As good old Bertolt Brecht would have it:
“What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?”

I wouldn't trust Apple more than Google - they both are only after their profit, and don't tell me otherwise.
Mind you, Google's search engine is powerful, but their is life beyond Google or Apple.

kyrios

SOLUSfiddler however there are major differences between Google which basically makes money by exploiting and selling user data (it is free because you are the product) and Apple which targets high end market. Unlike Google, Apple does not share or sell its user data.

DataDrake

Brucehankins I know a fair number of Apple users, and with the exception of sometimes activating when she's unwanted, Siri is one of their favorite things about Apple products.

kyrios

DataDrake This is true since the Macintosh... But in the early days Apple computers had expansion slots and were open architecture. I owned an Apple II which had a card with a Z80 processor on it so I could run CP/M operating system on it.

DataDrake

kyrios I definitely was speaking in terms of recent history. Apple is a walled garden nowadays because they control their segments of the markets, but they probably chose the Z80 from the start because compatibility back then was the only way into the market in the first place.

kyrios

DataDrake No actually the Apple II was running on 6502 for MOS Technology processor and the OS was Apple DOS but the one I got had an expansion card with a Z80 CPU and thus I could also run CP/M on the same machine.

I just said this to show that at that time it was really open. But yeah this was a long time ago in a galax... 😛