Microsoft CEO says Google deals kept Bing small

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 — Apple and other smartphone makers rejected revenue-sharing agreements that would have helped Microsoft’s Bing search engine and instead kept 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 active day on Bing mobile before leaving,” the lawyer said. Tainter refused to agree.

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