Microsoft logo at the Microsoft Store in New York City, July 28, 2015. The global launch of Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system will take place on July 29. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo Obtaining licensing rights
WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 — Apple and other smartphone makers have rejected revenue-sharing agreements that would have helped Microsoft’s Bing search engine, instead keeping Google as the default search engine, a Microsoft executive testified Thursday. .
Jonathan Tainter, a Microsoft vice president whose job was to help Bing grow, testified in the US Justice Department’s antitrust trial against Alphabet Inc’s Google in US District Court in Washington.
The Department of Justice accuses Google of paying $10 billion annually to wireless carriers and smartphone makers to ensure that Google Search is the default option on their devices. The government says Google abused its monopoly on search and some aspects of search advertising.
Bing has struggled to win the default on smartphones sold in the U.S., and that smaller scale translates to poorer search quality, Tainter said.
Under Justice Department questioning, Tainter testified that Bing was not the default software installed in any Android or Apple smartphone sold in the United States in the past decade, even though Microsoft would sometimes offer to give more than 100%. of revenue – or more – to its partners. a partner.
A Google lawyer pressed Tinter to find out whether it was money or poor quality that kept Bing from dethroning Google as the default search engine on smartphones and other devices.
He pointed to a 2010 analysis by Keystone Strategies that found that people who discover Bing only use it for a very short time.
“The number of Bing users who stay is single digits,” he said. “More than half of new users only have one day active on Bing mobile before leaving,” the lawyer said. Tainter refused to agree.
Diane Bartz reports. Edited by Jonathan Oatis and Howard Goller
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