Marissa Mayer Says Yahoo Would 'Welcome the Opportunity' to Become Default Safari Search Engine

Yahoo AppYahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer, during the company's quarterly earnings call on Tuesday, expressed interest in Yahoo becoming the default search engine in Safari. Mayer recognized the significance that getting Yahoo in front of Mac, iPhone and iPad could have for the search engine, referring to Apple's default web browser as "one of the premier search deals in the world if not the premier search deal in the world."

"The Safari platform is basically one of the premier search deals in the world if not the premier search deal in the world," Mayer told RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney. "We're definitely in the search distribution business. I think that we've stated that really clearly in the past and I think with Mozilla and also in addition we brought Amazon eBay on board with smaller distribution partnerships in Q4."

Google renewed its search partnership with Apple in 2010, although the contract is reportedly set to expire in 2015 and, supported by the fact that Google Maps and YouTube are no longer stock iOS apps, Apple is speculated to be considering a number of options. Back in November, it was reported that both Microsoft and Yahoo were courting Apple to become the default search engine in Safari.

"We're in the search distribution business and anyone who is in that business needs to be interested in the Safari deal. The Safari users are among the most engaged and lucrative users in the world and it's something we would really like to be able to provide.

We've worked really closely with Mozilla to ultimately bring to their users an experience that they designed and that they feel really suits those users and we would welcome the opportunity with any other partner to do the same, particularly one with Apple's volume and user base."

The New York Times, citing various reports from analysts, suggests that Google losing its Safari contract may not have much impact on the company's bottom line. The two important factors involved are how much Google is paying for its Safari search engine deal, and how many users would simply switch back to Google if Apple switched to Yahoo or another search provider as default.

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Top Rated Comments

MartinAppleGuy Avatar
131 months ago
Yahoo should separate their search engine and their home page. Its like living in the 90's again.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MagicBoy Avatar
131 months ago
Whatever. Until something offers better results than Google I'll continue to change it!
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chatter Avatar
131 months ago
Well, thats a big DUH. Who would not want to be in that position?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rm.237 Avatar
131 months ago
Keep grasping at those straws Marissa.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rafagon Avatar
131 months ago
They can change it to Baidu for all I care. Just leave the setting where I can change it back to whatever I like.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
McFreggle Avatar
131 months ago
Altavista FTW!
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)