The issue with suggesting buying Duck Duck Go is that they’re reliant on Microsoft/Bing for results. That would mean Apple coming to a deal with Microsoft for s

The issue with suggesting buying Duck Duck Go is that they’re reliant on Microsoft/Bing for results. That would mean Apple coming to a deal with Microsoft for search access where Apple runA the ads business. If you think you can make $20B on ads and Microsoft charges you $15B for search access on that scale, why not just let Google pay you $7B and make more money? It’s possible that Microsoft would charge less or that Apple could make more, but buying DDG doesn’t get them unlimited access to Bing’s results for one low price. I’m not implying that DDG doesn’t have any technology, but they are reliant on Microsoft for the hardest parts and there’s no guarantee that Microsoft would grant Apple as favorable terms when it’s not just a niche project, but a major competitor’s new foray.