14 DAY TRIAL // Apple had plenty of big announcements at its developer conference, like a new iOS version, a new Mac OS X version, and so on.
Among those announcements were some additions to Siri. Specifically, it now includes support for some new services, like Twitter, Wikipedia, and Bing.
Bing’s inclusion means that one existing supported service is getting the boot, namely Google.
Google search has been the default provider used by Siri for standard web searches since the feature's introduction. However, Microsoft scored a major victory by convincing Apple to use Bing instead in iOS 7.
Google isn't being removed altogether, as you can still use Siri to search with Google. However, you have to specify that you want a Google search, otherwise you'll get Bing results.
That's a major win for Microsoft and a loss for Google. Apple has been slowly removing Google products from iOS; first Maps was removed, then YouTube.
But the win is largely symbolic, as Google remains the default search provider in Safari, where most people will start their searches. Meanwhile, Siri remains mainly a gimmick for most iPhone users.
Apple couldn't push Google out of Safari search for the simple reason that most people prefer Google. And, of course, Apple makes quite a lot of money from the search deal with Google.
However, it gets better for Google. While it may no longer be the default option in Siri, the search giant is bringing Now to iOS, which is arguably better than Siri in many respects. That's probably the biggest reason Apple was able and willing to replace Google, and why Google probably isn't too worried about it.
Still, the search giant can't be too happy. It has some of the most popular apps on Apple's platform, like Maps, YouTube, even the Search app. Still, it's still playing by Apple's rules, and Apple has made it very clear that the less Google in its products, the better.