5 ms·

serious question: what if Apple bought (something like) DuckDuckGo and invested in it? could that form a good enough replacement?

ars 9y ago
DuckDuckGo is just Bing with a filter. It's not a search engine in and of itself, so there's nothing much there for Apple to buy.
- ribosometronome 9y ago
  Are you sure of that? I get considerably different results for queries on Bing vs DDG.
  - seanalltogether 9y ago
    I've just done a search for "fuengirola" which is a popular tourist destination for people from the UK. Both on bing and duckduckgo. I have the exact same results from both searches. http://imgur.com/P1akOab http://imgur.com/P1akOab
- stephenr 9y ago
  Their own site specifically says they use Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex, plus literally hundreds of other specific sources of data. https://duck.co/help/results/sources https://duck.co/help/results/sources
anindha 9y ago
Apple could use anonymized browsing and searching data from Safari to launch it's own search engine if Google pulls its current deal.
simonh 9y ago
This is always a possibility. After all if they can buy in Siri or build their own mapping service, why not search? The question is why do that, especially if doing so will cost you not just the price of the service but also £3bn in recurring revenue? To be compelling, doing so would either have to earn them the cost of the service plus £3bn a year, or it would have to mitigate a strategic risk. With maps, Google had turn by turn directions on Android but wouldn't add it on iOS. The only way for Apple to get that feature was to do it themselves. But there are no such risks with Search and there is always Bing.
dqdo 9y ago
They won't do that. The current arrangement with Google is quite good for both parties. It's not smart to start another battle with Google unless there is some to gain. 3 billion in profits is quite good. It's hard to imagine how Apple can make that much profit from their own search engine.
Doctor_Fegg 9y ago
Apple does already provide a limited search engine, of course. It's the thing that returns "Suggested Website" when you type in the omnibar, and very often it finds what you're looking for without the need to go to Google (or DDG, or Bing). For one random query I just tried, it came up with a better result than DDG's #1 or #2, which is sad but not too surprising.
ecommerceguy 9y ago
7 more years until Facebook thinks they will be ready to compete. http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-will-challenge-google-for-dominance-of-search-2014-1 http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-will-challenge-googl...

ars 9y ago

DuckDuckGo is just Bing with a filter. It's not a search engine in and of itself, so there's nothing much there for Apple to buy.

ribosometronome 9y ago
Are you sure of that? I get considerably different results for queries on Bing vs DDG.
- seanalltogether 9y ago
  I've just done a search for "fuengirola" which is a popular tourist destination for people from the UK. Both on bing and duckduckgo. I have the exact same results from both searches. http://imgur.com/P1akOab http://imgur.com/P1akOab
stephenr 9y ago
Their own site specifically says they use Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex, plus literally hundreds of other specific sources of data. https://duck.co/help/results/sources https://duck.co/help/results/sources

anindha 9y ago

Apple could use anonymized browsing and searching data from Safari to launch it's own search engine if Google pulls its current deal.

simonh 9y ago

This is always a possibility. After all if they can buy in Siri or build their own mapping service, why not search? The question is why do that, especially if doing so will cost you not just the price of the service but also £3bn in recurring revenue? To be compelling, doing so would either have to earn them the cost of the service plus £3bn a year, or it would have to mitigate a strategic risk. With maps, Google had turn by turn directions on Android but wouldn't add it on iOS. The only way for Apple to get that feature was to do it themselves. But there are no such risks with Search and there is always Bing.

dqdo 9y ago

They won't do that. The current arrangement with Google is quite good for both parties. It's not smart to start another battle with Google unless there is some to gain. 3 billion in profits is quite good. It's hard to imagine how Apple can make that much profit from their own search engine.

Doctor_Fegg 9y ago

Apple does already provide a limited search engine, of course. It's the thing that returns "Suggested Website" when you type in the omnibar, and very often it finds what you're looking for without the need to go to Google (or DDG, or Bing). For one random query I just tried, it came up with a better result than DDG's #1 or #2, which is sad but not too surprising.

ecommerceguy 9y ago

7 more years until Facebook thinks they will be ready to compete. http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-will-challenge-google-for-dominance-of-search-2014-1 http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-will-challenge-googl...