The reason why Google secretly paid Apple and CS hundreds of

trillions of Rupiah

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The Google trial reveals a lot about the conspiracy of technology giants behind the scenes. One of the payments of hundreds of trillions of rupiah from Google to Apple and Mozilla.

Based on a CNBC International report , Google paid US$ 26.3 billion (Rp. 418.7 trillion) to Apple, Samsung, Mozilla and several other companies throughout 2021 so that Google Search was immediately available as default software on new iPhones.

The majority of the US$ 26.3 billion payment went to Apple. Previously, Apple was estimated to receive US$ 19 billion (Rp. 302 trillion) by 2023 so that Google Search would remain the default search engine on all Apple devices, including iPhones and Macbooks.

“Google pays billions of dollars each year to distributors, including top device manufacturers like Apple, LG, Motorola, and Samsung; major mobile carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Veriozon; and browser developers like Mozilla, Opera, and UCWeb to secure status “Google Search as the default search engine. In certain cases, this includes prohibiting partners from working with Google competitors,” the US Department of Justice lawsuit states.

Prosecutors at the trial stated that the payments from Google were evidence of Google’s efforts to maintain a monopoly in the web search engine business. The aim is to block competitor search engines from “key distribution channels”, one of which is Apple’s browser called Safari.

For decades, when opening Safari on an iPhone, users would see the Google search engine as a default service.

Google’s position as the default search engine on nearly all smart devices is at the heart of the largest antitrust trial in the US in more than two decades.

“This case is about the future of the internet and whether Google will face meaningful competition in the search space,” Justice Department attorney Kenneth Dintzer said as the US government began filing suit against the tech giant.

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Expected to last 10 weeks with dozens of witnesses called to court, Google will try to convince Judge Amit P. Mehta that the case filed by the Justice Department is baseless.

“While Google has innovated and improved its search engine for decades, plaintiffs have escaped this inescapable truth,” Google lawyer John Schmidtlein told the court, quoted from NDTV, Wednesday (13/9/2023).

Held in a Washington courtroom, the case is the biggest technology case since Microsoft was targeted more than two decades ago for the dominance of its Windows operating system.

“Even in Washington DC, I think we have the highest concentration of blue coats of anywhere here right now,” Mehta said.

Source : CNBC INDONESIA