Yahoo Plans to Replace Google for the Apple Browser

Yahoo kept the tech journals busy last month with the news of replacing Google as the default search engine in Mozilla Firefox. According to the news released by Mozilla and people familiar with the matter,

“Firefox 34 is to launch later today or perhaps tomorrow, and may include the search engine switch. All U.S. Firefox users who have previously left Google as the default search engine will see Yahoo as the new search engine.”

In other words, if your default search engine is still Google and you didn’t change anything in your browser settings, you may have the surprise of finding the Yahoo search engine working on your Mozilla browser. But this is not the only Yahoo related piece of news we have for today. Latest reports tell us that Yahoo plans to replace Google for the Apple browser too.

Apple has its own browser, Safari, and its contract with Google is due to expire next year. Apparently, Apple doesn’t want to renew the contract with Google, but is instead shopping for a new primary search engine for the Safari browser in all Apple products, be them desktop or mobile.

The race for Apple’s contract is currently held between Yahoo and Microsoft, a long time partner of Apple when it comes to searching things on the Internet. Microsoft’s search engine Bing provides search results for Apple’s Siri and so far it seems that Microsoft is the favorite candidate for the Google switch.

However, Yahoo is going strong with its New Yahoo Experience and interface. According to specialists, Yahoo boasts the “one-click search”

“which would allow users to search across Google, Yahoo, Bing, Amazon, DuckDuckGo, eBay, Twitter or Wikipedia to start – and then give users the ability to expand from there.”

In other words, all you have to do is type your search on the interface and select on the icon of the preferred search engine. The tricky word here is “preferred”, as truth be told, Google is still the world’s most preferred search engine. Is there a real choice, even if the platform gives users the illusion of a multiple choice search engine?

If you remember our November report related to Yahoo replacing Google in Mozilla, Google didn’t even flinch at the news. It seems the giant search engine doesn’t feel threatened by the fact that Yahoo plans to replace Google for the Apple browser either. However, just as the specialists mentioned, closing the deal with Apple will be a game changer for Yahoo, or for Microsoft, as

“whoever wins the Safari contract will be presented a great opportunity for user traffic and revenues, as the browser is available on all of Apple’s iOS devices including iPhone, iPad and Mac.”