Yahoo Will ‘Welcome The Opportunity’ If Picked As Default Safari Search Engine

Google may be the leader in online search but its rivals are always looking around for new opportunities that could help them steal away some market share from Mountain View. Yahoo’s recent deal with Mozilla, which made it the default browser on Firefox, did show that it stole some share from Google otherwise it wouldn’t be trying so hard to win Firefox users back. Could Yahoo score a similar deal with Apple to become the default search engine for Safari? CEO Marissa Mayer says that if this happens her company is going to “welcome the opportunity.”

There’s renewed speculation that Apple might drop Google as the default search engine for Safari. Google renewed its contract with Apple in 2010 and its reportedly going to expire in 2015. Apple has already removed Google Maps and YouTube as stock apps on iOS so there’s speculation that if the company’s requirements are met it may even choose a different search engine.

Microsoft and Yahoo are both believed to be courting Apple for the prized spot in Safari. It was a win for Yahoo when Mozilla picked it for Firefox and if its gets Safari too then that’s just going to be the icing on the cake.

During Yahoo’s quarterly earnings call CEO Marissa Mayer didn’t hide the company’s interest in Safari. “We would welcome the opportunity,” she says, “particularly one with Apple’s volume and user base.”

There are over a billion iOS devices out there running mobile Safari and hundreds of millions of Macs that come with Apple’s browser straight out of the box.

Being the default search engine for all of those users will bring a serious change in Yahoo’s search market share, but will Google go down without a fight? Too soon to say for sure right now.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Web
Tags: Google, safari, Yahoo