5 Statements Made by Satya Nadella at the US vs. Google Antitrust Trial The lawsuit alleges Google's unlawful domination of online search by exclusionary tactics, including denying rivals access to search queries and clicks. Google currently dominates the search engine space with a 90 per cent share.
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Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella is not holding back against Google while testifying in the ongoing US vs. Google Antitrust trial. On Monday, the 56-year-old took the witness stand in Washington DC to testify at the Google antitrust case brought on by the US Justice Department.
The case was first brought on in 2020 over the company's advertising market practices and now goes on the floor for a three-month trial. Earlier this year, DoJ filed a second antitrust lawsuit against Google. The lawsuit alleges Google's unlawful domination of online search by exclusionary tactics, including denying rivals access to search queries and clicks. Google currently dominates the search engine space with a 90 per cent share.
Here are five key statements made by Nadella-
1. 'You get up in the morning, brush your teeth and search on Google'
The process of changing the default search engine is the easiest on Windows and toughest on phones. Google is the default browser on Androids and iPhones.
2. "I see search as the largest software category out there by far"
On being asked why Microsoft even wanted to compete with Google, the CEO shared that he saw SE as the largest software category available, "I used to think of Windows and Office as attractive businesses until I saw search." As a part of the proceedings, Nadella also shared of Bing being a profitable venture of Microsoft and shared it did not have to win the market to be a big business.
3. "Defaults are the only thing that matters"
Lashing out at Google's statement that users can easily switch search browsers if they want to, he called the claim "bogus." Furthermore, he said it would be a game changer for Bing if it became a default on Apple's Safari.
4. "You can call it popular, but to me it's dominant"
Microsoft has been eyeing the SE market since 2009 with the introduction of Bing. But it's not been able to compete with Google largely due to its aggrement with Apple to be a default search browser. Google's lead litigator John Schmidtlein cited how users inspite of having Bing as their default opted for Google on some devices. Google has also argued that the current scenario of Bing is due to Microsoft's series of missteps to overthrow Google as the market leaders.
5. "We needed to be less greedy and more competitive"
Nadella also shared that Apple was using Microsoft to "bid up the price" it received from Google. "Do you think Google would continue to pay Apple if there was no search competition? Why would they do that?" Reportedly, Google is paying approximately a whopping USD 19 billion to Apple to continue being its default preference. For him, being a default on iPhones is not about money, at least directly. The more number of people using Bing, the more dataset available for Microsoft to improve its search engine and more reasons for advertisers to come to the platform.
Nadella also shared that Microsoft was willing to give all the upper hand to Apple if they were to switch to Bing...and was prepared to loose USD 15 billion a year. He further added that Bing was also willing to hide its branding in Apple users' search engines and abide by privacy requirements of them.
