Speculation rife over iPad’s search provider
28th January 2010 by William Hobson
Despite the official launch of the Apple iPad this week online speculation has yet to die down. Although many of the product’s features have now been confirmed by the company, one question remains: who will be the iPad’s default search engine?
The Apple iPad, seen by many as the company’s answer to the Kindle e-book reader and a new approach to the portable computer market, is a tablet device which can be used to browse the web. The position of default provider for the Safari web browser installed in apple products like the iPhone is seen as extremely lucrative, as it massively expands their audience for search engine marketing with little active promotion.
Although users can change their search provider many never attempt this. Earlier this month Chitka Research published data that suggested that an overwhelming 50.54% of all internet traffic on the iPhone was driven through searches made on Google. In comparison, Yahoo searches made up only 1.24%, Ask searches 0.08%, AOL 0.01% and Bing 0.08% – all other traffic was non-search. As the iPhone makes up a reported 54% of the expanding mobile internet market a deal with Apple is valued by all of the major search engine marketing companies.
Speculation over who will secure first hold on the safari browser for the new iPad is already rife as Steve Jobs did not confirm who would be the default search provider; when the iPhone was launched, the arrangement with Google was among the first details announced.
This speculation has been fuelled further by rumours that circulated last. A Business Week report suggested that Apple and Microsoft were in talks to change the iPhone’s search provider to Bing – a deal which would dramatically increase the range of the company’s mobile PPC ads and its profile among users. Any such deal would likely be carried over to the iPad.
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