Microsoft's Nadella Calls Google's Search Testimony 'Bogus'

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Monday took the witness stand in the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust fight with Alphabet's Google, saying that the company tried to make Bing the search engine of default on Apple devices, but was refused.

Nadella dismissed an argument Google has made, calling it "bogus." Google testimony suggested it is easy to change defaults on devices.

"Changing defaults today is easiest on Windows and toughest on mobile," according to Nadella’s testimony.

The U.S. government in the trial set out to prove Google, worth more than $1 trillion with about 90% of the search market share, illegally paid $10 billion annually to smartphone makers like Apple and wireless carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and remain the default search engine on their devices. Google claims it can keep a dominate position based on the quality of its products.

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The name of the company and search engine, Google, has not only become a verb over the years, but it has become a habit for millions. “You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth and you search on Google,” Nadella said on the stand Monday.

And despite Microsoft investing $100 billion in its rival search tool Bing is a “very, very low share player,” Nadella testified.

Nadella said Microsoft persists in search because of the contributions that executives believe the company can make to the industry, although it is “a hard game to make any breakthroughs.”

Microsoft began publicly sharing information about the integration of AI technology from OpenAI in February. Google began incorporating its artificial intelligence (AI) software Bard into search in March. 

Nadella said Google accelerates its lead by using massive profits from search to pay for exclusive rights to content and keep rivals at bay.

Microsoft executive Jonathan Tinter last week testified Google was unable to sign a deal to put Bing on Apple products despite it offering better terms than Google.

On Friday, a note filed in a pre-trial brief describes "Google’s anticompetitive conduct harms consumers—even those who prefer its search engine—because Google has not initiated as it would have with competitive pressure."

Those using Google Search should remember results have been skewed, but not to help searchers find what they seek, but to boost the company's profits. It came to light in a piece of testimony from an employee, a key exhibit momentarily flashed on a projector, according to Wired, and spectators had only a few seconds to scribble down the contents shown during public questioning. In fact, Google likely alters queries billions of times a day in trillions of different variations. 

Living up to this reputation, a document released online last week by the Department of Justice shows that in July 2017, Google Vice President for Finance Michael Roszak made the remarks during a training offered by the company on communications. It talked about search as being one of the most profitable businesses.

"Search advertising is one of the world’s greatest business models ever created -- maybe Windows is on that same level as Christian and I discussed at dinner & there are certainly illicit businesses (cigarettes or drugs) that could rival these economics, but we are fortunate to have an amazing business"

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