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

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.

Comments

All the data

[DogDude]

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.

Re:All the data

[Z00L00K]

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.

New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google?

[JoeyRox]

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.

Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google?

[93 Escort Wagon]

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.

Re:New billion-dollar deal for Apple with Google?

[Albanach]

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.

Darn it

[93 Escort Wagon]

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

Re:Darn it

[sinij]

I am starting new search engine, calling it Confuse.

Unless Microsoft offered $4 billion

[raymorris]

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.

Consistently Profit?

[DarthVain]

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...