- The Information reports Yahoo (YHOO - unchanged) and search partner Microsoft (MSFT +0.5%) are aggressively trying to sell Apple on replacing Google (GOOG +0.6%) as the default search engine for the Safari browser (pre-installed on all iOS/Mac OS hardware) when its Google deal expires in 2015.
- Apple, which naturally views Google as a major rival, already dropped Google as iOS and Mac OS' Spotlight search provider this year in favor of Bing. Yahoo, meanwhile, is less than a week removed from announcing it has displaced Google as Firefox's default U.S. search provider; Google is still the default provider in Europe.
- The Firefox deal suggests Google is willing to walk away from default search agreements if Yahoo/Microsoft (hungry to grow their scale) significantly undercut its revenue-sharing terms, betting much of its base will keep using Google regardless. Macquarie has estimated Google provides Apple with a 75% cut on Safari-driven iOS search ad revenue.
- On iOS, users could keep relying on Google search in the event of a Yahoo deal by manually selecting Google as their Safari search option (should Yahoo become the default), or by using Google's popular search and Chrome apps. StatCounter estimates Google had a 92.2% October mobile/tablet search share to Yahoo and Bing's combined 6.5%.