There is a tech war going on in the world. Last autumn, Google lost to the American state, which believed that the giant had counteracted to protect its search service. The searches drive ads, generating money for Google and its parent company Alphabet.
Advertising revenues are the engine of Alphabet's economy, says Frida Bratt, spareconomist at Nordnet.
But what happens when people stop googling? That's the question Apple's service director Eddy Cue indirectly asked last week when he testified in connection with the legal process about Google's search monopoly.
"The money follows the users"
According to Cue, searches via Google on Apple devices decreased in April. It's the first time in 22 years that it's happened. According to Cue, people have moved on to AI services, something he opened up for Apple to do as well.
The market reacted with a sharp decline for both Google and Apple.
Chat GPT has started a race. And the money follows the users, says Peter Mackhé.
Frida Bratt emphasizes, however, that it's partly about saber-rattling and positioning from both Google's and Apple's and other giants' sides:
For many, AI is the way to higher valuation. Several giants have been forced to show how much they believe in AI.
"Built the system"
Google is not alone in having taken a hit from both trade wars and AI reality, but it's being attacked from several directions. Voices from the American side think that the giant should be broken up, including that the Chrome web browser should be spun off.
Google is very skilled, they have built the entire system. The entire ecosystem with ads, the entire e-commerce, says Peter Mackhé.
There are a number of large giants fighting for our data, says Frida Bratt and continues:
It's clear that Google also has AI services and an answer to the AI question, but they must balance it with their dominance on the search side.
"Economic muscles"
The balancing act, Bratt believes, can become a challenge for Google. To dominate on the tech world's new favorite area AI, but on the other hand, maintain power and user numbers over what put the company at the top of the pyramid.
Alphabet has an enormous amount of data and significant economic muscles, but when we change our behavior as consumers, there will be winners and losers.
In response to Apple's Eddy Cue's statement, Google responds that "we continue to see an overall increase in questions via (Google) search.
