By:
Greg Kristan
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Yahoo! wants to be the default search engine for Apple
Also a cool thing is that on a recent poll, 75% of SEO’s want Yahoo back in the search race!
Quick Backstory:
We all know that Apple is losing market share to Google with almost all of the products that Google comes out with. The Android has a larger market share than the iPhone. Allow Google to be the default search engine on their iPhone allows Google to have complete control over the marketplace, especially in Mobile (as Android uses Google as the default). As a note Google does pay over 1 billion dollars every year to Apple to keep them as the default search engine. This current deal ends in 2015.
The past week or so there have been many rumors about Marissa Mayer from Yahoo are pitching the idea to Apple to become the default search engine in Safari (Yahoo!) rather than Google. At first I thought this would never happen.
Reason 1:
Yahoo! does not have a search program anymore. In 2009 Yahoo! Teamed up with Bing for a 10 year search deal where Bing would power Yahoo’s search results. This deal would allow Yahoo! to save money on search but also get an 88% revenue deal from Yahoo ad revenues along also with a cut of overall profits from both Bing and Yahoo search results.
Also in realty Apple would just cut the middle man and choose Bing as that is the service that actually is running the search program. Apple also recently made Bing the default search engine on Siri. We all know that Apple is losing market share to Google with almost all of the products that Google comes out with. Allow Google to be the default search engine on their iPhone allows Google to have complete control over the market place. As a note Google does pay over 1 billion dollars every year to Apple to keep them as the default search engine. This current deal ends in 2015.
Reason 2:
Yahoo! has continued to lose market share to Bing almost every month since this deal. Bing is close to 18% of the market share while Yahoo! is down to just a few points above 10%
Reason 3:
This is just speculation, but I am not sure if Apple would be convinced Yahoo would have enough time to really create an amazing search engine that is better than Google, or even Bing. Creating a search engine is incredibly difficult, see how hard it has been for Bing to go head to head against Google.
However, here are some reasons why it actually might work
Reason 1:
Yahoo! Does not directly compete against Apple. Google definitely does, but so does Microsoft. Microsoft has their own phones, own computers, own search, and just recently their own SIRI (Cortana). This becomes very attractive for Apple as they are essentially losing market share to Google by directly having their users search on Google
Reason 2:
Yahoo actually has an amazing app (that I use) called Yahoo! Weather. This app really shows the power of Yahoo! And how they can really deliver on mobile. This app is actually an award winner (people check this app out, it is really amazing and holds so much data while looking incredible). Also on your iPhone the weather, stocks, and finance are all powered by Yahoo!
The picture below is from Apple iTunes
Reason 3:
There has actually been a loophole in the Bing and Yahoo! A deal that actually allows Yahoo to create partnerships with Mobile. So there will not be any legal problems with them trying to pursue this deal
All in all I for one am excited if this actually does play out. Now, yes I do have to admit, Yahoo mail is awful. That is my spam email (because all other spam just keeps going there) and the Yahoo! Searches are mainly towards celebs. Also, I am not positive as to what Yahoo! Really is and I am sure others would agree.
Are they a fantasy sports place? Are they a news article website? Are they emailing? Are they searching?
Regardless, I love competition so I really hope something works out for 2015!