APPLE EXEC DEFENDS THE DECISION TO MAKE GOOGLE ITS DEFAULT SEARCH ENGINE ON IPHONES & MACS

A top Apple executive defended the tech giant’s decision to make Google the default search engine on Apple iPhones and Macs, saying there was no “valid alternative.’’

- 

Testifying in the biggest antitrust trial in a quarter century, Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, said Tuesday that there wasn’t “anybody as good’’ as Google at helping phone and computer users search the internet.

The U.S. Department of Justice has accused Google – a company whose very name is synonymous with scouring the web — of smothering competition by paying Apple, Verizon and other tech companies to make its search engine the first users see when they open their devices.

Google counters that it dominates the market because its search engine is better than the competition, a position Cue supported in his testimony. Google also argues that users can, in any event, switch to other search engines with a couple of clicks.