Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to testify in US antitrust trial against Google today

livemint.com:

(Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channel. Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest financial insights! Click here!) But the US government hopes to use testimony from Nadella and other executives from Microsoft to show how even a company of its size and resources couldn’t unlock Google’s hold on the search market.

The US Justice Department will ask Nadella about Microsoft's efforts to expand the reach of Edge and Bing, its browser and search engine, and the obstacles posed by Google's dominance. Last week, Microsoft business development executive Jonathan Tinter testified that the Redmond, Washington-based software giant failed to secure a deal to put its Bing search app on Apple’s products, even though it was willing to offer far better terms than Google and lose multiple billions of dollars on the agreement.

Also read: Apple defends decision to set Google as default search engine on iPhones, Macs, says ‘no viable alternative’ Alphabet insisted that Microsoft place a Google search widget on the main screen of its Surface Duo touchscreen smartphone device in order to license the Android operating system, rejecting the software company’s request to use its own search engine, Bing, said Tinter, who negotiated the deal in the spring and summer of 2020. Google also prohibited Microsoft from instructing users how to switch the default search engine to Bing.

In the end, Apple signed a fresh deal with Google. Tinter also told the court that Microsoft’s Surface Duo smartphone was required to use Google Search in order to license the Android mobile operating system and was limited from using Bing on its own devices.