Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified on Monday in the United States Justice Department’s antitrust case against Alphabet’s Google.
Nadella stated that Microsoft attempted to make its Bing search engine the default on Apple smartphones but was turned down. Nadella called Google’s claim that it is simple to change default settings on devices “bogus.” He said it is easiest to change defaults on Windows and toughest on mobile.
According to government claims, Google, which is valued at more than $1 trillion and controls 90% of the search industry, illegally paid $10 billion per year to smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and wireless carriers such as AT&T and others to be the default search engine on their devices. Google’s clout in search makes it a major player in the lucrative advertising business, bolstering its earnings.
Google has also attempted to demonstrate that the quality of its products, rather than criminal behaviour, is the basis for its success.
In the past, Microsoft also faced its own federal antitrust litigation. However, the tech giant was forced to discontinue certain commercial practices, which opened the door for Google.
As Google, created in 1998, grew into the industry’s dominant search engine, the two became bitter rivals. Both have browsers, search engines, email services, and a slew of other features in common. They have recently become rivals in artificial intelligence, with Microsoft aggressively investing in OpenAI and Google, among other investments, developing the Bard AI chatbot.