Google’s cautious approach was largely a product of bloat. The downside to being one of the largest companies of all time, with a monopolistic grip on the search market, is that everything moves at a snail’s pace. You’re constantly afraid of public backlash or regulatory scrutiny. Your prime concern is maintaining growth and dominance. So intent has Google been on keeping a stranglehold on the search market that it paid more than $26.3 billion in 2021 to Apple, Samsung, and others—more than a third of its net profit that year—just to preinstall its search engine on their phones, according to a
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