United States v. Google/Findings of Fact/Section 1B
- B. Key Third Parties
9. Apple Inc. is a California-based company that “designs, manufactures[,] and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables[,] and accessories, and sells a variety of related services.” UPX8105 at 172, 175. Those products include the iPhone, iPad, and Mac personal computers (PCs). Id. at 175. Each of these devices runs on an Apple-developed, proprietary operating system: iOS for iPhones, iPadOS for iPads, and macOS for Mac computers. Id. Unlike Android, Apple’s operating systems are not open source. See Tr. at 9841:25–9842:5 (Murphy). Apple’s products all come preloaded with its proprietary web browser, Safari. Id. at 632:9-10 (Rangel). In 2022, Apple’s market capitalization was at least $2.8 trillion. UPX8105 at 173.
10. Microsoft Corporation is a Washington-based company whose products include an operating system called Windows, a web browser called Edge, and various devices, including PCs and tablets. UPX8094 at 517, 521, 530–31. In 1998, Microsoft licensed a third-party GSE, MSN Search, for use on its devices. Tr. at 3545:11-21 (Nadella). In 2005, Microsoft created its own GSE, which was then known as Live Search. Id. at 3547:3-24 (Nadella). In 2009, Microsoft launched Bing, a GSE. Id. at 3548:4-5 (Nadella). Microsoft has invested nearly $100 billion into search over the past two decades. Id. at 3510:3-7, 18-21 (Nadella). Bing’s search and news advertising revenue totaled $11.6 billion in 2022. See UPX8094 at 612. The CEO of Microsoft is Satya Nadella. Tr. at 3487:2-6 (Nadella). Microsoft’s revenues in 2022 were over $198 billion, with a market capitalization of $2.5 trillion. UPX8094 at 559, 517.
11. Mozilla Corporation is a California-based company that developed an open-source web browser called Firefox for both desktop and mobile devices. JX31 at 612, 633. Today, Mozilla’s share in the desktop browser market is about 10% and negligible in the mobile market. M. Baker Dep. Tr. at 127:24–128:8, 134:9-20. In 2018, Mozilla generated $435 million in revenues. Id. at 285:12-16 (discussing UPX979 at 414).
12. DuckDuckGo (DDG) is Pennsylvania-based web services company founded in 2008. Tr. at 1937:4-7 (Weinberg). It offers a product that is an integrated browser and GSE. Id. at 1962:6-12, 1963:3-16 (Weinberg). Gabriel Weinberg is the founder and CEO of DDG. Id. at 1937:2-3 (Weinberg). DDG does not produce its own search results or search advertisements. It syndicates both from Microsoft. Id. at 3510:8-11, 3520:13-22 (Nadella). DDG attempts to differentiate itself from other GSEs through a focus on user privacy. E.g., id. at 1937:14-20, 2150:13-18 (Weinberg).
13. Yahoo is a California-based provider of general search services and was an early market leader in general search. UPX1053 at 121; Ramalingam Dep. Tr. at 23:2-12. In 1998, the year that Google was founded, Yahoo already had hundreds of millions of users. UPX1053 at 121. By 2009, however, Yahoo had stopped crawling the web and producing its own search results. Instead, it reached a data-sharing and syndication agreement with Microsoft, which provided that the two companies would combine their search engine user data (primarily to compete with Google) and, going forward, Yahoo’s search results would be delivered by Bing. See DX271; Tr. at 3520:13–3522:9 (Nadella). Yahoo also has popular subject-specific, or “vertical,” products, such as Yahoo Sports and Yahoo Finance. Ramalingam Dep. Tr. at 24:14–25:11.
14. Neeva was a California-based company incorporated in 2017 that introduced a new GSE in 2019. Tr. at 3670:1-5, 3670:24–3671:1 (Ramaswamy). Neeva was founded by Dr. Sridhar Ramaswamy, a veteran Google Search executive. Id. at 3667:3–3669:14 (Ramaswamy). One of Neeva’s distinguishing features was that it was a subscription-based service that did not serve advertisements. Id. at 3675:22–3679:16 (Ramaswamy). Although Neeva initially licensed Bing’s search infrastructure to respond to all queries, by 2022 Neeva responded to about 60% of queries using its own systems, relying on Bing for the remainder. Id. at 3739:14-16, 3776:14-21 (Ramaswamy). In May 2023, Neeva shut down and was acquired by Snowflake Inc., an enterprise data company. Id. at 3675:1-6 (Ramaswamy). It no longer exists as a GSE. Id. at 3675:5-19 (Ramaswamy).
15. Branch is a California-based software company that was founded by Stanford graduate students in 2013. Id. at 2892:7-24 (Austin). Branch created a search engine for applications using “deep linking” technology, which allows users to search across pages of mobile applications on a particular device and navigate to relevant application results. Id. at 2893:18–2894:18, 2897:3-15 (Austin). This “app search engine” required “work[ing] individually with every app company [to] get them to send [] the actual pages inside of the app,” which entailed “build[ing] the one-on-one relationship with the app [and] hav[ing] them develop, write custom code.” Id. at 2898:2-9 (Austin). Unlike a GSE, Branch’s product does not index the web and (in its presently deployed version) does not deliver web results. Id. at 2957:3-15, 2956:16-24 (Austin); see also infra Section VI.B.2.d.
16. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is a Korea-based original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of smartphones and other mobile devices that run on the Android platform. See UPX639 at 266; Baxter Dep. Tr. at 34:14. Samsung devices “represent the primary competitor to the iPhone in key monetizing regions, such as the US[.]” UPX639 at 266. Samsung develops mobile applications that it preloads onto its devices, including a browser known as S Browser and an app store called the Galaxy Store. Baxter Dep. Tr. at 83:10-24, 91:4-7. Samsung also invests in novel products through its innovation arm, Samsung Next. Tr. at 4485:3-12, 4485:22–4486:14 (Chang).
17. Motorola Mobility LLC is an Illinois-based OEM of smartphones that run on the Android platform. JX39 at 794. Motorola and Samsung together manufacture the majority of Android devices in the United States. Tr. at 775:2-5 (Kolotouros). Google acquired Motorola but later sold it to Lenovo Group Ltd. Christensen Dep. Tr. at 15:12-14, 142:12-18.
18. AT&T Mobility LLC is a Georgia-based mobile carrier that provides wireless services that connect mobile devices to cellular networks. JX91 at 742. AT&T also sells devices directly to consumers. Ezell Dep. Tr. at 28:4-12. Roughly 30% of the smartphones that it distributes are Android devices. Id. at 29:8-25. The other 70% are Apple devices. Id.
19. T-Mobile US, Inc. is a Washington-based mobile carrier that provides cellular services and sells mobile devices directly to consumers. JX95 at 687–88; Tr. at 9313:24-25 (McCallister). Approximately half of the phones sold by T-Mobile run on Android, and the other half are Apple devices. Giard Dep. Tr. at 23:16–24:7.
20. Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, is a New Jersey-based mobile carrier that provides cellular services and sells mobile devices directly to consumers. JX93 at 487–88; Tr. at 9313:24-25 (McCallister). It distributes roughly twice as many Apple devices (70%) as Android devices (30%). Tr. at 1102:21-23 (Higgins).