Google and Apple have been competing with one another ever since the existence of smartphones.

Be it Android versus iOS, Google Pixel versus iPhone, Google Maps versus Apple Maps, or Play Store versus App Store, the two tech giants have been striving to keep their products and services on top of its rival.

But this hasn't always been the case. Prior to the recent Godzilla versus King Kong battle, Apple and Google were very close to one another. Like really close! Before the smartphone wars, the two companies were actually business partners.

In fact, in 2001, when Google was just a three-year-old startup, Google's founders, Larry and Sergey offered Steve Jobs the position of Google's CEO. But Jobs, being too much involved with Apple and Pixar, had denied this generous offer.

However, Jobs continued to provide mentorship to Google. If you wonder, why would Jobs help out a company that would become their strongest competition in the future, let me tell you that back then this possibility was unthinkable, as Google was only in the search business and had its own struggles with Yahoo and other similar startups.

Moreover, there was an evil motive for Apple for assisting Google, since the two companies shared a common mission of limiting the dominance of Microsoft in the computer and service industry.

And because of this alliance, Apple and Google heavily benefitted from one another's products. In 2006, when the first-ever iPhone was in development, Google's then CEO, Eric Schmidt, joined Apple's board of directors since Google's products, YouTube and Google Maps, were to be featured as native stock apps on the iPhone.

Heck, Eric Schmidt even had his own segment during the iPhone launch event and praised the product.

But gone are those lovey-dovey days! For a decade and a half, Google and Apple have been each other's biggest rivals. And what's worse than competing with an old-friend-slash-rival? Paying a $15 billion sum each year!

Now, unlike Apple, Google isn't just a company famous for selling hardware, software and subscription-based products. What started as a search engine website has become one of its top assets in the present.

On average, Google generates over $100 billion in revenue from its search advertising. That is ten times more than what Yahoo generates. And what Yahoo generates, Google pays twice as much to Apple. In fact, $15 billion is the highest single payment Google makes to any company.

Here's why;

Out of the total traffic Google's search engine receives every day, Apple contributes over 46% of it.

Safari by Apple is the most used internet browser on the Apple devices such as iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Now, it's no secret that Apple has managed to capture most of the tech market, be it the smartphone or computer. And this is where Apple gets the window of opportunity to earn billions of dollars from its nemesis.

Google on Safari comes as the default search engine. It is the go-to-place of every Apple device user when they look up something on the web. And this comes at a cost.

Unlike android smartphones, Apple devices don't ship with a stock Google Chrome browser. An average Apple user relies on Safari for their everyday web activity as it is already available, well optimised and gets more feature-packed with every software release.

Hence, to continue being the default search engine on Safari, Google is obliged to pay 15 billion dollars to Apple.

If tomorrow Apple decides to launch its native search engine or prefer other search engines over google as the default option, it would cost Google almost $50 billion worth of loss each year. And Google is very well-aware of this frightening possibility.

If we look at history, Apple has been successful in setting the most absurd trends in the market. If Apple makes DuckDuckGo their default browsing option, there is a strong chance of Apple users inclining towards the new search engine and getting used to it.

"To earn some, you gotta burn some." — the poster in Google's finance department

Google would rather agree to spend $15 billion for something as basic as being the default search engine on Safari than give birth to its future nightmare.

I'm sure it must be heartbreaking for Google. After all, they spent years building a search website to perfection. Whereas, Apple makes billions in profit without even being in the search engine business.

So, here was a bitter-sweet tale of Google's misery. If you enjoyed reading this story, consider subscribing to The Evil Geek's email notifications by signing up below. And oh, it's free!