Google was ruled a monopoly, but it won’t affect contractors — yet

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” a judge wrote this week.

What’s happening: After a year-long trial, a judge, Amit Mehta, concluded on Monday that Google holds an illegal monopoly in the online search market.

• Google’s 90% market share allows it to inflate advertising prices without repercussions, Mehta said.  

• The company has paid Apple and others over $20 billion to remain the default search engine on their devices, effectively sidelining competitors, he added.

• A hearing is set for September 6 to discuss next steps.

Why it matters: The implications for HVAC contractors are uncertain, but the market could open up for other search-related products to gain share. 

• Apple has expressed intentions to launch advertising on Apple Maps, for example, and could revive its own search engine plans.

• ChatGPT-maker OpenAI also launched a Google competitor, SearchGPT, which is currently in beta.

A significant possible outcome of the ruling is that Google may be forced to cut its exclusivity deals, resulting in the loss of its spot as the default search engine in several places including Samsung devices and Apple’s Safari.

• Mehta pointed out that other search engines can be successful if Google isn’t the default.

• Bing, for instance, holds an 80% market share on Microsoft Edge, Microsoft’s default browser.

The bottom line: Google plans to appeal the decision, which means it’ll be a while — possibly years — before anything actually happens. 

• Still, given the possibility of a market shift, as a few insiders tell Homepros, it’ll become even more important for contractors in the long run to be optimized on multiple platforms, including Apple Maps, Bing, and Yelp.