Last week, Yahoo won Firefox in the US market

Nov 26, 2014 07:58 GMT  ·  By

Search providers Bing and Yahoo are looking to hop on Apple’s Safari mobile browser. A search contract between Mountain View-based Google and the Cupertino-rooted Apple is about to expire, and the two other search suppliers that matter are in a good position to get picked.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has been rooting for Apple’s iOS for quite some time now, but Microsoft has already scored some points on Apple platforms with its Bing engine. Spotlight on OS X and Siri on iOS both use the latter.

Like eagles circling the prey

It may sound like a harsh comparison, but it’s most likely true. There’s a lot of money to be had if you supply search results on one of the most widely used OSes in the world, and you can bet both Microsoft and Yahoo love money.

But that’s not the only reason these two want to be on iOS. At least as far as Yahoo is concerned, CEO Marissa Mayer has always had profound admiration for Apple. In all fairness, both Apple and Yahoo could improve their services by partnering up. But it’s Apple’s decision to make, not Yahoo’s.

Word on the web is that “...among companies still wringing billions of dollars a year from search ads, all eyes are on the upcoming expiration of the only search distribution deal that matters anymore: Apple’s Safari Web browser.”

The tidbit comes from The Information, whose reliable connections said that Apple’s search contract with Google was about to expire. They can always renew it, of course. But there’s a good chance they won’t.

A doomed relationship

These days, it’s common knowledge that Apple and Google are at odds over the latter’s Android operating system which Apple feels is heavily inspired from iOS. While imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, Apple didn’t quite feel this way when the first Droids came out. So the lawsuits started, and before we knew it, we no longer had Google Maps on our iPhones. At least not as the default Maps service.

Then Apple removed Google as the default search engine in Safari and replaced it with Bing. Then it put Bing in Siri. It did the same on OS X, but only in the Spotlight search function. The pattern is more than obvious. Google’s relationship with Apple is falling apart, piece by piece, year by year.

It’s worth noting that Yahoo has recently become the default search engine for Firefox in the US market. That’s a massive win for Marissa Mayer, and one that could add some heft to her discussions with Apple as she vies for Mobile Safari.

Yahoo, Bing and Google (5 Images)

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