MSFT offered to sell Bing to Apple in 2018 but search quality got in the way

cnbc.com

13 points·leeny··3 comments

Why would Microsoft want to sell, and why would Apple want to buy?

As I understood it, the point of Bing was for Microsoft to have a good-enough search engine so that Windows users would accept the default. They could leverage that the way Google does, to lock users into a whole ecosystem of tools.

If that was right, Apple would have no interest in buying it. They can surely do their own search engine.

And Microsoft wouldn't want to sell it. They'd need something to anchor their web ecosystem. Bing is a brand more than a technology.

I don't doubt that TFA is right that they did try to sell it. But I have no idea why.

Apple has an incentive to not build their own search engine if the shape of a very large check from Google to have their search as default.

also, from TFA: "The document, from Google’s antitrust case against the U.S. Justice Department, was unsealed on Friday."

"Microsoft pitched Apple in 2009, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2020 about making Bing the default in Apple’s Safari web browser, but each time, Apple said no, citing quality issues with Bing."

The sale wasn't of Bing becomes owned by Apple. It was more of use us instead of Googs

That does make a good deal more sense, yes.

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