Mobile Search Market Showdown – Google vs. Apple
March 3rd, 2010 Posted in Mobile CommerceThe mobile phone search marketing is facing the ultimate showdown as Apple enters talks with Microsoft to replace Google, the iPhone’s current default search engine, with Bing.
While Google and Apple have partnered in the past on such projects as mobile applications and music purchasing. More recent projects, however, have pitted the two giants in a growing war within the mobile search market and others. The turf battle is escalating as Apple begins to squeeze its way into search and advertising and as Google gets into producing and marketing smart phones.
Read on to learn about 2 major areas of conflict in the Google-Apple mobile search market showdown:
Google’s Nexus One vs. Apple’s iphone
Mobile phones
Apple was first to enter this market, debuting its iPhone on January 9, 2007. The iPhone came a whole 3 years before Google’s Nexus One. Apple continues to dominate the super-smart phone market. With more apps, more dedicated followers, and more storage space, the iPhone has a distinct competitive advantage.
However, according to an insider, “Apple and Google know the other is their primary enemy.” For this reason, Apple is attempting to keep Google from pressing into this market even further by removing Google as the default search provider on its iPhone.
But why does that even matter?
Default search
That same insider stated that “Microsoft is now a pawn” in the showdown between the two companies. Microsoft’s Bing search engine has seen far less success than Google search, but still stands to be made the default search engine on the iPhone.
To use Microsoft’s Bing, iPhone users currently must download a Bing app or go directly to Bing.com through their browser.
Adding Bing as the default search app would increase the visibility and usage of the less-than-popular search engine (which only holds 11% of the current mobile search market, compared to Google’s 86%). It’s also important to note that Google’s 86% stake in the mobile search market is partly due to the iPhone.
And the Microsoft-Apple collaboration may not even last long. Rumors are circulating that Apple is looking into developing its own search engine for both mobile and browser use, and that replacing Google with Bing is merely buying time. According to a source, given the growing importance of the mobile search market, “Apple isn’t going to outsource the future.”
If the switch to Bing takes place, Google search will take Bing’s place on the backburner in the mobile search market. In the short term, Bing’s gain is Google’s loss.
ipod’s default search app: Google or Bing?
However, long-term effects will probably be less drastic, as Bing seems to be just a temporary bargaining tool in the Apple vs. Google war. As for now, there is no clear winner in the showdown between the technology behemoths.
With Google’s brand equity, intense user loyalty and expansion into new arenas, it should be able to hold on to much of its market share and ultimately, be just fine without the iPhone.
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