In a news that fell like a bomb on the agenda the other day, it was reported that Samsung is considering using Microsoft’s Bing search engine by default instead of Google Search for Galaxy smartphones and other Android devices. With this news, Google shares fell by 2.5 percent on Monday.
However, Andreas Proschofsky, a correspondent for the Austrian website and newspaper derStandard, claimed in a post on Twitter that it would not be possible for Samsung to start using Microsoft Bing by giving up Google Search, at least in some markets such as the USA.
In this post, it was pointed out that any company that wants to make an Android-based phone with Google’s services must comply with the Mobile Application Distribution Agreement (MADA). This contract states that phone companies that want the Google Play Store installed on their devices must set up Google Search as the default search engine.
However, the situation may be different in some markets such as Europe and India. Proschofsky says Android phones in these regions have a search engine selection screen, as required by some regulatory agencies. However, this still means that companies cannot completely get rid of Google Search.
In other words, either Samsung needs to completely abandon Google services on future Android phones to make Bing the default search option (and we’d say this is highly unlikely), or the New York Times report is scant. There are other ways “Samsung can put pressure on Google,” Proschofsky says, but the threat of switching search engines doesn’t seem to be one of them.
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