Google Maps: Google used loss of Map’s traffic to Apple as “data point”, says executive in court

Two years after Apple dropped Google Maps as its default service on iPhones in favour of its own app, Google had regained only 40% of the mobile traffic it used to have on its mapping service, this was revealed by Google executive during testimony in the ongoing antitrust trial against Google-parent Alphabet Inc company.
According to a report in Bloomberg, Michael Roszak, Google vice president for finance, said that the company used the Apple Maps switch as “a data point” when modelling what might happen if the iPhone maker replaced Google’s search engine as the default on Apple’s Safari browser.
In an email sent in June 2020, Roszak reportedly shared data on how Apple’s switch affected Google Maps usage on iPhones with his then-supervisor. “Almost 2 years later we were at ~40% of the prior peak (and assumed the actual loss was greater since Apple Maps usage was also growing across this time),” Roszak wrote in an email shown in court. Roszak further added that he wasn’t aware of any data that Google keeps on how many users change the search default on their browser or mobile phone. The Apple Maps example was “one data point we have used” to estimate how iPhone owners might react to a change in the search default, he said.
What is the antitrust trial against Google
The Justice Department alleges that Google has illegally maintained a monopoly over online search by paying billions of dollars to ensure its search engine remains the default option on web browsers and smartphones. The government claims that Google bribed smartphone makers such as Apple and Samsung and the browser-maker Mozilla to be their featured search engine, funnelling far more data to Google and cutting off competitors.
Google’s largest deal is with Apple, which set Google as the default on Safari in exchange for a share of the revenue that the search engine earns through advertising. The exact amount of money that Google pays Apple for its default status is not known.
The Justice Department’s opening statement claimed Google paid between $4 billion and $7 billion for the default on Safari in 2020, however, Apple raised strong objection to the same. Apple’s lawyers said that the figure was a public estimate and not the actual figure.