In the latest string of Apple rumors, it’s suggested the company may have its own mobile search engine in the works- one that may help unseat Google as the master of search engines, especially when it comes to mobile.
While details are scant, those close to the matter have revealed that Apple is likely building a mobile search engine that does everything Google’s doesn’t. It’s no secret that Google has had a harder time building its mobile search business then it had with traditional search, and Apple could prove to have a serious leg-up in terms of data Google can’t get.
Apple analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray believes Apple could utilize data unavailable to Google, data generated by the company’s App Store, to create a mobile centric search engine. “An iPhone specific search engine could be a difficult undertaking, but we feel Apple could make a minor acquisition of a search company that has built a web index, like a Cuil, and utilize the index as the base for building its own engine,” Munster suggests.
The main reason Apple likely wants to take control over user-search capabilities on the iPhone, iPad and any other future device is the fact that Google now has access to vital user information from the use of Google products and services already installed on the devices. When people use Google Maps, for example, Google retrieves data for that session and uses it for a variety of things. Apple wants to cut off as much access for Google as it can, and developing a search engine is a good start.
