As one might expect, the trial against Google for abuse of dominant position in the United States is the scene of numerous revelations. Last twist: a brutal testimony from the boss of Microsoft who is settling scores with Google and Apple.
Is Google abusing its dominant position in the world of search to prevent the emergence of a credible competitor? Satya Nadella, the big boss of Microsoft, seems to think so. During highly anticipated testimony, the manager tried to convince the court that despite Google’s posture, competing search engines Bing had almost no chance of establishing themselves if no legal changes took place.
Google and Apple, a “ fantastic oligopolistic arrangement »
“ You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth, and you do your Google searches“, Satya Nadalla tried to summarize. “ With this level of habits, the only way to change things is to change the norms», then continued the boss of Microsoft, whose statements were noted by theWall Street Journal. According to him, Google uses its 90% or so market share to improve its search results, which further strengthens its monopoly.
Not shy of unkind comments, the manager also described the agreement between Google and Apple (to impose the former’s search tool on the latter’s devices) as “fantastic oligopolistic arrangement“, and the idea that there really is any competition in the research sector of “ridiculous“. According to him, Silicon Valley no longer even dares to venture into the field of research, which has become the “preserve» from Google. Note, however, that Apple is honing its weapons precisely to offer an alternative to Google.
Even Microsoft doesn’t believe in AI compared to Google
Even more bizarre, Satya Nadella doesn’t even seem to believe that the innovations proposed by Microsoft on its Bing search engine could change things. Asked about the competition that ChatGPT (now integrated into Bing) could represent, the manager explained that “the dominance that Google has today will not disappear […],While I’m excited to see the new possibilities offered by AI, the vicious cycle I’m caught in may only further strengthen the more established players“.
Bravage, the boss of Microsoft had recently declared that the integration of ChatGPT into Microsoft’s tools marked a “new day” in the war against Google.This is the exuberance of someone who has 3% of the market share and perhaps hopes to have 3.5%.“, Satya Nadella dryly summarized.
Strangely, Microsoft today finds itself in the exact opposite situation to that in which the company was in the 90s/2000s. At the time, the Redmond firm used its dominance of the operating system market to impose the Internet Explorer browser (and the search tools that accompanied it) on all Internet users. At the time, Google was able to shake up the market thanks to its innovations, but 25 years later the situation has changed.
Source : Wall Street Journal
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