Microsoft's Bing or DuckDuckGo probably won't disrupt Google's dominance in search, said Apple senior vice president of services Eddy Cue - but AI services easily could. Cue was returning to a courtroom in Washington, DC where he last testified in the Justice Department's trial against Google's search monopoly in September 2023. During the current remedies trial on Wednesday, Cue said that in the time since, well-funded generative AI upstarts have made such significant advancements that they could ultimately disrupt that monopoly - perhaps more effectively than the court could. Cue was also, however, there to defend a significant source of Apple's revenue: the payments Google offers for default search engine placement on Apple's Safari browser. After the 2023 trial, Judge…

Apple is “actively looking at” bringing AI search options to Safari. Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, made the statement during Google’s antitrust trial on Wednesday, saying the company will likely add AI search features to Safari in the coming year as they continue to improve. “To date, they’re just not good enough,” Cue said, adding that Apple has already had discussions with Perplexity, OpenAI, and Anthropic. Cue is mindful that it’s still early days for generative AI, and says that with Apple’s existing agreement with OpenAI for other AI services, it was important to “make sure we have the capability to switch if we have to,” in case a different provider leaps ahead.  The statements came as…

After a stinging rebuke in the lower courts over its legal battle with Epic, Apple filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit on Monday. The appeal will challenge last week’s ruling that prevents the company from charging developers fees on purchases made outside the App Store. In 2021, the Epic v. Apple lawsuit resulted in a court order enjoining Apple from anti-steering activities — that is, hindering developers from telling users to make purchases outside of the app. The case was revived last year when Epic Games alleged that Apple had violated that court order.  Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers not only agreed with Epic Games but also found that Apple’s Vice President of Finance, Alex Roman, had lied…

Meta, gavel’d During Meta’s antitrust trial today, lawyers representing Apple, Google, and Snap each expressed irritation with Meta over the slides it presented on Monday that The Verge found to contain easy-to-remove redactions. Attorneys for both Apple and Snap called the errors “egregious,” with Apple’s representative indicating that it may not be able to trust Meta with its internal information in the future. Google’s attorney also blamed Meta for jeopardizing the search giant’s data with the mistake. Details about the attorneys’ comments come from The Verge’s Lauren Feiner, who is currently in the courtroom where proceedings are taking place today. Apple, Google, and Meta did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment. Snap declined to comment. Snap’s attorney…

On Wednesday, EU antitrust authorities directed Apple to grant rivals access to its ecosystem, providing specific instructions on how to comply with the bloc’s regulations. They also warned that failure to adhere could trigger an investigation and penalties. This decision from the European Commission follows six months after it initiated specification proceedings to enforce Apple’s compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Per the Commission’s orders, device makers and app developers should gain access to nine iOS connectivity features previously reserved solely for Apple, including peer-to-peer Wi-Fi, NFC capabilities, and device pairing. This could allow Google to integrate AirDrop functionality with Android devices. Similarly, headphone manufacturers might leverage this order to enable SharePlay support, a feature currently exclusive to AirPods.…

China’s antitrust regulator is preparing for a possible investigation into Apple’s App Store developer fees and policies, amid a wider initiative by Beijing that could escalate tensions in the ongoing trade conflict with the United States. Pei Li for Bloomberg News: ‎ The State Administration for Market Regulation is examining Apple’s policies, which include taking a cut of as much as 30% on in-app spending and barring external payment services and stores, people familiar with the matter said. Agency officials have spoken with Apple executives and app developers since last year, said the people, who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive moves. The conversations stem from long-running disputes between Apple and developers such as Tencent Holdings Ltd. and ByteDance Ltd.…