As the latest search market share numbers plainly show, Google is probably already a search engine monopoly, with or without the recently deceased Yahoo deal. Yahoo and Microsoft are both struggling just to stay alive in the marketplace, and it looks like the search engine wars are just about over–or are they? Techcrunch says the rumor mill is abuzz over Apple perhaps developing its own search engine. If true, the battle is only just now heating up.
Techcrunch says Apple may pursue a search engine as a way to capitalize on the increasing popularity of its Safari browser, as well as all the new traffic it’s getting to its servers via the iPhone and iPod. Why rely on Google for search when it could monetize all that traffic itself? Also, Google stepped on Apple’s toes when it released Android. Building its own search engine could be a way for Apple to retaliate, albeit an expensive one.
Apple is known for its designs, not its search engine prowess. Maybe it could look to buy up Yahoo, which is in dire need of a suitor, to get it a quick headstart. That would be a fast way to gain the search engine expertise that Techcrunch says the company currently lacks. But perhaps, TechCrunch is right and Apple is simply looking for a way to make mobile search more elegant:
Apple doesn’t like the search experience on its mobile devices, and may be building a radically different user experience which is much more visual than exists today. It will likely still be powered by Google results, but Apple may present it in a very different way that suits mobile users much better.
And then again, it might all just be confused conjecture surrounding the new voice-recognition app Google just developed for the iPhone. Still, it’s interesting to think about.
