Bing on iPhone - Microsoft's Ultimate Mobile Coup?
If the recent blitz of rumors are correct, Apple is considering booting Google from iPhone Safari and giving Bing its spot as default search engine. As huge as this is from a business relations point of view (Apple must be seriously angry …
Context & Ripple Effects
BusinessWeek reported on January 19 that Apple and Microsoft had discussed making Bing the default engine in iPhone Safari, and the rumor mill has kept running since — Chitika's piece is the latest read on a story that reframes the big-picture three-way contest among Google, Apple and Microsoft as a direct negotiation over the iPhone's search box.
The stakes are the mobile query stream itself: Safari on the iPhone was, in early 2010, one of the largest funnels of mobile searches, all of which defaulted to Google. If Apple actually switched, it would be the first time any platform moved its default away from Google since mobile search monetization became serious business.
First-order effects
- Microsoft would instantly gain default placement of Bing on millions of iPhones without spending a dollar of its own acquisition marketing — the single largest distribution win Bing could buy in mobile.
- Google would lose guaranteed traffic from every Safari search on iOS, forcing it to compete for queries it currently receives by default.
Second-order effects
- Google's most obvious countermove is to deepen Android as its own controlled distribution channel, raising the strategic value of its handset partnerships relative to rivals' platforms.
- Yahoo — already outflanked in the desktop search deal structure covered earlier this month — faces a third-party squeeze, with both Microsoft and Google bidding for placement while its own relevance shrinks.
Third-order effects
- If platform owners begin auctioning or rotating their default search slots rather than signing long exclusives, mobile search shifts from an incumbency business to a procurement negotiation — with Apple holding the leverage over both Google and Microsoft.
- The episode previews search-default deals becoming a recurring flashpoint between device makers and engines, the kind of arrangement antitrust scrutiny tends to follow once money changes hands at scale.
The trend: Mobile search is moving from passive default to actively negotiated placement, with device makers like Apple realizing the search box itself is a monetizable asset they control.