This is business. Apple and Google bring something to the table and they meet in the middle. For zero dollars Apple could just let the user choose from a randomised list which is arguable better and more impartial.

Of course it's business, but it invalidates the premise that people chose "mostly" because of the quality. If that was the main driver, Google could just pay zero, 9 Billion for few hundred million users is quite an hefty sum.

The other option is that Google does not pay to get the Apple users, which might come otherwise, but to prevent Apple to try something funny, either directly or indirectly.

In any case, the "build a better product and people will come" mantra is flawed when companies in the space pay each other billions for distribution.

This logic is only valid if you assume Apple cares a lot about their users getting the best search results. I don't think this is the case.

Instead, Apple has a thing to sell -- "position of default search engine" -- and it is selling it to highest bidder.

I bet if Bing would offer 10 Billion, they'd make Bing default instead. Hey, if DDG could offer them 10 Billion, I am sure they would set it as default, easily ignoring the fact that many people say they do not like its results.

Forget about Apple for a second, they will sell whatever to anyone, for sure.

But please focus on Google, which is the one putting the money!

Why Google pays so much money if they already have the best product and what the users want? Are they just giving B10$ as charity?

There are many reasons for doing that, but none of them is aligned with the make-believe statement that "build a better product and people will come"

I would agree that is a necessary condition, but by no means sufficient, which is kind of sad.

Let’s say that 90% of users don’t care about search engine at all, and other 10% do care (for the sake of argument, I am sure the real numbers are quite different)

Google pays billions to get those 90% of don’t care users. They already have the users who care, but more users = more money, so presumably it is worth it.

Cliqz, DDG, and others have no chance for those 90%, but they fight for the rest. It’s a hard fight because google is so good. If one spends a hour searching for stuff on alternative engine, then goes to google and finds the results in a few minutes, they will be unliketo visit other engines again.