In 2018, Apple Considered Acquiring Bing from Microsoft: Insider Testimony Unveils

In 2018, Apple reportedly considered a major move that could have disrupted the online search landscape: acquiring Microsoft's search engine, Bing, or collaborating with Microsoft in a joint venture in the search space. This information comes from John Giannandrea, Apple's senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy, who formerly worked at Google. Giannandrea's testimony was part of an antitrust case against Google, where the Department of Justice alleged that Google used contracts with Apple and other companies to maintain its search monopoly.

According to Giannandrea, Apple was exploring alternatives to Google for some of its search features, like Siri and Spotlight. Microsoft had approached Apple with an offer to work together on Bing, leading to internal discussions at Apple about potential partnerships. These discussions included scenarios like growing Siri organically, collaborating on technology like "Knowledge Graph," co-owning Bing, or acquiring Bing.

However, the deal with Microsoft ultimately did not materialize. Giannandrea believed that Apple CEO Tim Cook conveyed to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella that Apple was not interested in moving forward with the collaboration. Giannandrea's testimony also indicated that he was not convinced that Bing would be a significant improvement over Google for Apple's search features. He had prior experience working on Search at Google before joining Apple.

Apple executives have consistently maintained that they chose Google as their default search engine because it was the best available, rather than primarily due to the payments they received from Google for this arrangement, which are estimated to be as much as $19 billion annually.