Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Apple Replaces Bing With Google as Search Engine For Siri and Spotlight (geekwire.com)

Posted by msmash on from the time-for-a-change dept.

Apple is ditching Bing and will now use Google to power the default search engine for Siri, Search within iOS (iOS search bar), and Spotlight on Mac. From a report: TechCrunch reported Monday that Apple users will now see search results powered by Google, instead of Bing, when using those tools. For example, when an iPhone user asks Siri a question that needs a search engine result, the voice assistant will now pull from Google, not Bing. Apple will still use Bing for image search queries using Siri or Spotlight on Mac, TechCrunch reported. Apple said the move was done for consistency; its Safari browser uses Google as the default search engine. In a statement, the company told TechCrunch that "we have strong relationships with Google and Microsoft and remain committed to delivering the best user experience possible." Google is reportedly paying Apple $3 billion this year to remain as the default search engine on iPhones and iPads.

54 comments

  1. That title... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Apple Replaces Bing With Google as Search Engine For Siri and Spotlight"

    Holy nouns Batman! That title is only few letters short of a replacement for "A quick brown fox..."

    1. Re:That title... by vux984 · · Score: 1

      d,f,j,k,m,q,u,v,x,y,z

      it's missing: 11
      therefore it has 26-11 = 15
      15 out of 26 isn't really that impressive. :p

  2. All the data by DogDude · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hey, good for Google! Now, they've got every bit of data from every human on the planet using an Android *or* and iPhone! Good for them! That's pretty impressive. As a retailer, it's really much easier to have eveybody's data in one place. We've got so much information about our customers now, that it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
    1. Re:All the data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And now there's even less reason for people to put up with Apple's walled-garden bullshit!

    2. Re:All the data by DogDude · · Score: 1

      Apple or Google, it doesn't matter to us. We get all of their data from both.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    3. Re:All the data by Z00L00K · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I can't say I'm surprised if the goal is to give decent search results. The few times I have tried bing I have been severely disappointed.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    4. Re:All the data by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 0, Troll

      For most search, yes, but I Bing has better image search. For example "Nude Teen Emo Boys" on both Google and Bing...

      No contest.

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    5. Re:All the data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      ...and thanks to the Equifax leak, you don't even need to wait for your customers to buy your product. You can just charge their credit cards for them. It truly is a golden age for retailers.

    6. Re:All the data by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

      This ain't 4chan.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    7. Re: All the data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Looks the same to me. Pics of fags sucking and posing.

    8. Re:All the data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And now there's even less reason for people to put up with Apple's walled-garden bullshit!

      That's about the only thing you have left to cling to, isn't it?

    9. Re:All the data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Based on AC's comment below, this *is* 4chan.

  3. I'll switch my search engine for $1 billion by dcavanaugh · · Score: 1

    Paypal only, please.

  4. New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by JoeyRox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Remember when Cook gave a speech about how evil Google's business model was in terms of privacy, all while Apple was collecting billions of dollars from Google in a secret agreement between the two companies to make Google the default search engine in iOS?

    Based on this news it looks like Google just sweetened that deal.

    1. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

      Fortunately you can still change the default search engine - I'm using DuckDuckGo on both my phone and my computer. It seems to work about as well as Google.

      Heck, on those occasions I've been dissatisfied with DDG's results and tried it on Google, I get the similar poor results from Mountain View.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    2. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by Albanach · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Fortunately you can still change the default search engine - I'm using DuckDuckGo on both my phone and my computer. It seems to work about as well as Google.

      Really? I do a search for Target Pharmacy hours tomorrow. Duckduckgo gives me a page full of links - Google and Bing both give me an answer.

      Search has moved on from Altavista, and when we're talking about search in response to voice commands it becomes double important to be able to answer natural language queries with natural language results.

      Not that I'm dismissing the privacy concern. I think it's a valid one, just that the example of duckduckgo as a fully fledged alternative doesn't really work.

    3. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by kwoff · · Score: 1

      Some say DDG's search results have improved, but not yet in my experience at least. I did switch to startpage.com recently after a comment from here or Hacker News, and it's working a lot better for me, for what it's worth.

    4. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

      DuckDuckGo for sat images or driving instructions is a no-go.

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    5. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by DogDude · · Score: 1

      So, you keep Google from getting your info, but you still give it freely to Apple...?

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    6. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      I did switch to startpage.com recently

      If startpage would create an "iGoogle" like portal, I'd pay the $60/month for it in a heartbeat.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    7. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Generally sounds like it depends on your use case. For me, when I'm doing a search I'm usually looking for detailed information. That doesn't lend itself to short blurbs of superficial data being offered up in voice or in text. Most of the time when that's offered, I find it's getting in my way rather than helping me.

      But the thing is, your "alta vista" comment implies that I'm simply not familiar with how "good" modern search engines are... and, perhaps, if only I did know, I'd join the enlightened many. But Google was my "go to" search engine for years before I started becoming concerned with their business practices. I know exactly how my searches worked before, and I know how they go now.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    8. Re: New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Citation needed. Show me where Apple is slurping up our data and using it or selling it.

      Apple sells hardware, with software attached. Google sells YOU.

    9. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      The satellite images seems like a valid point. Using generic search to get driving directions nowadays seems sub-optimal, though (but I do know one or two people who inexplicably still insist on going to Mapquest and downloading a printed set of turn-by-turn directions).

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    10. Re: New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by DogDude · · Score: 1

      https://www.apple.com/legal/pr...

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    11. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

      Fortunately you can still change the default search engine - I'm using DuckDuckGo on both my phone and my computer. It seems to work about as well as Google.

      I replaced Google with DuckDuckGo as my default search engine, and I used it for about a month. DuckDuckGo does not measure up. It is not terrible, but it is also nowhere near as good as Google. It pains me to write this, for I believe that Google has become thoroughly obnoxious, and likely to become only worse. However, when it comes to searching, it still rules. DuckDuckGo will have to improve VERY significantly, if it is to attain a comparable performance.

    12. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by Albanach · · Score: 1

      I think you misunderstand my point. The article is about apple using Google for Siri results. That is obviously vastly different from searching for detailed information about a topic - Siri is really only useful if she has answers, not links to more information.

      My Altavista comment wasn't about how good one search engine is over another. I was referring to what was once the pinnacle of search to point out that the way the majority of users are using search has changed. Those links were great 20 years ago, and if you're using search for detailed information, they're still what you're looking for. Hence the value in DuckDuckGo. But if you want to do more - and I'd argue most anyone using voice search is looking for more - then the paradigm has to change.

    13. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Interestingly enough, when I tried your search a little while ago using Siri (except I picked "Walmart pharmacy") - Siri asked me which location I wanted (since three are basically equidistant from here) and then told me the hours out loud. So it appears iOS 11 Siri is not simply relying on my chosen search engine, which isn't that surprising I guess. ... and once I managed to get Siri to return a list of links - which was harder to do than it might seem, since she kept trying to be "helpful" in the manner you refer to - there's a little link to get more Google results, even though my browser search engine is DDG. That's not really surprising either, given the nature of Siri - but it does undercut my original argument. ;-)

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    14. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by mnslinky · · Score: 1

      ++

      I like the relevant info, not just links. It's not 2004 anymore.

    15. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Really? I do a search for Target Pharmacy hours tomorrow. Duckduckgo gives me a page full of links - Google and Bing both give me an answer.

      For this search, you're correct, but DDG launched their zero-click box a year or so before Google gained an equivalent. This shows a domain-specific answer (e.g. from Wikipedia, Stack Overflow, a calculator, a code search engine, GitHub, and so on) above the results.

      For your specific search, I'm much rather have a link, because I don't know how accurate or how up-to-date Google's scraping of the page is, but I'm pretty confident that the retailer in question will have up-to-date opening hours on their own site.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    16. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      I've read this a few times, yet never with any actual examples. What searches does DDG not give a good answer for? I've used it as my primary search engine for almost a decade now and occasionally use their !g or !b shortcuts to rerun a search with Google or Bing if they don't give me a useful result. In every single instance that I've tried, DDG has given me no results (or half a dozen), Google and Bing have both given me pages and pages of results that are completely irrelevant to my search term.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    17. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you misunderstand my point. The article is about apple using Google for Siri results.

      No, it's about Apple using Google for web search (and not even all), when all other sources they use fail.

    18. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ++

      I like the relevant info, not just links. It's not 2004 anymore.

      So you support Google's business practice of taking away web traffic from those who actually gather or create the information.

    19. Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For your specific search, I'm much rather have a link, because I don't know how accurate or how up-to-date Google's scraping of the page is, but I'm pretty confident that the retailer in question will have up-to-date opening hours on their own site.

      Good idea: http://www.businessinsider.de/google-home-claims-obama-planning-communist-coup-conspiracy-theories-featured-snippets-2017-3?op=1&r=US&IR=T

    20. Re: New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https://www.apple.com/legal/pr...

      Now learn to read that, you idiot.

  5. Darn it by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Funny

    And I had just finally gotten used to saying "let me Bing that for you".

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Darn it by sinij · · Score: 3, Funny

      I am starting new search engine, calling it Confuse.

    2. Re: Darn it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "OK Google, please Bing 'x' for me."

  6. Not Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Basically, this just reinforces Google even further, ensconcing them into our lives whether we want them there or not. Try as I might, I just cannot seem to free myself from the Google grip.

  7. Just Doesn't Sound Customer Friendly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Google has to pay $3 billion to be the default search engine, it just doesn't seem like Apple made the choice based on their consumer experience. Oh well, what can you expect with a $1k phone.

  8. Apple said the move was done for consistency by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Yes, because Bing gives consistently shitty results.

    1. Re:Apple said the move was done for consistency by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seems consistent with Apple's shitty products...

  9. Apple gets a another billion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's like five bucks in Apple dollars.

  10. Ditching Bing? All I can say is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bitchin'

  11. Unless Microsoft offered $4 billion by raymorris · · Score: 2

    We don't know how much Microsoft was paying to send the traffic to Bing, and how much they offered to keep the Siri-Bing deal.

    It may be that Microsoft offered $4 billion, but Apple decided to use Google for its better results, foregoing the additional $1 billion that Microsoft offered.

  12. We need to stop calling Bing a search engine by sandbagger · · Score: 1

    It's really a random link generator.

    --
    ---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
  13. I Won't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'll switch my search engine for $1 billion. Paypal only, please.

    I won't switch mine. https://www.startpage.com/

  14. Consistently Profit? by DarthVain · · Score: 3, Insightful

    From the Summary:
    "Apple said the move was done for consistency"

    and

    "Google is reportedly paying Apple $3 billion this year to remain as the default search engine on iPhones and iPads."

    Sounds more like Apple likes to consistently receive 3 billion dollars...

    1. Re:Consistently Profit? by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

      They're referring to Tim Cook's financial advisor, Frank Consistency.

    2. Re:Consistently Profit? by RhettLivingston · · Score: 1

      I'm sure that has played a part.

      But, I wouldn't underestimate the desire for the success of their Apple Homepod. Google Home's superior search result quality has been causing it to win most head-to-head comparisons with Alexa (which uses Bing) and is likely the reason that it already leads the market in dollar sales despite giving Alexa a head start of over a year.

      Apple has likely decided that, especially given the price point of their entry into the market, they cannot hope to succeed if they enter the market with the same glaring deficiency.

  15. Not as well for me by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I've also switched to using DuckDuckGo. But still several times a day I have to load up Google or Bing - mostly for more obscure programming related searches, where Google sometimes provides a few useful results DDG does not.

    I will say it's much better than the last time I tried, where I had to switch back after a week.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  16. Bing search is a lot better now by eclectro · · Score: 1

    Bing search is much better than it used to be. I feel great about using it all the time unless I really need to dig on a topic. Which case switching temporarily to google will be able to offer up additional unique search results that I do not see on Bing about 1 or possibly 2 out of 5 times.

    Clearly Microsoft is catching up to google, which is a good thing. Plus those homepage pictures Bing has are always fantastic.

    --
    Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
    1. Re: Bing search is a lot better now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you live in English-speaking country, maybe.