Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified in the ongoing antitrust case against the company, defending Google's practice of paying Apple and other tech companies to make Google the default search engine on their devices. Pichai argued that the payments were intended to create a seamless user experience. The Department of Justice alleges that Google engages in these payments to stifle competition and innovation, with payments totaling over $26 billion in 2021. Google maintains that its dominance in the market is due to the superior quality of its search engine.
Pichai, who joined Google in 2004 and became CEO in 2015, testified that the payments to phone manufacturers and wireless companies were also meant to incentivize them to make security upgrades and other improvements to their devices. Google benefits from these deals by earning revenue from advertisements clicked on its search engine, which is then shared with companies like Apple.
The Justice Department presented evidence suggesting that Google feared Apple might develop its own search engine and was concerned about losing talent to the tech giant. In a 2019 email, Pichai requested to be informed whenever a member of Google's search engine team defected to Apple.
The antitrust case, filed in 2020 during the Trump administration, is the largest since the government pursued Microsoft's dominance of internet browsers 25 years ago. The trial began in September and is expected to last for 10 weeks. Much of the testimony and evidence have been kept confidential to protect trade secrets.
Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court probably won't make a decision until the beginning of next year. You will have to wait for another trial to decide how to deal with Google's market power if it is found to have broken antitrust rules. Google might not be able to pay companies like Apple to be the default search engine, which is one possible result.
The case highlights the significance of default choices on devices, as Google's search engine is deeply ingrained in users' daily routines. Breaking this habit would require changing the default search engine on devices.
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