Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Monday that he believes the search engine deal between Apple and Google has made it impossible for other search engines like Bing to compete (via The Wall Street Journal). With Google as the default search engine on Safari on all Apple devices, people become accustomed to using it, Nadella explained in testimony he gave during the ongoing Google vs. U.S. Department of Justice antitrust trial.
“You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth, and you search on Google,” said Nadella. “With that level of habit forming, the only way to change is by changing defaults.” Nadella went on to say that Google is able to use its ~90 percent market share to improve search results, further reinforcing its monopoly. He said that it’s “bogus” that there is choice in the search engine market.
