> Sacconaghi estimates that Alphabet (ticker: GOOGL) pays Apple (AAPL) between $7 billion and $8 billion a year for Google to be the default search engine for iOS ...
The real figure is probably $12 billion - https://fortune.com/2018/09/29/google-apple-safari-search-en...
> Google pays that large sum to Apple in part out of concern about what Microsoft (MSFT) might be willing to pay Apple to supplant Google with Bing*
Unlikely. Apple does not have search, and they simply need the best search available for their devices to stay true to being "premium".
> Sacconaghi thinks Apple should consider acquiring the No. 4 search engine (after Google, Bing, and Yahoo)—privately held DuckDuckGo. He thinks Apple could likely buy it for under $1 billion, “
This is completely off. DDG is highly unlikely to be worth that much. As discussed in this other thread - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23458202, DDG is dependent on Bing both for search and ads.
> And he also writes that “If Apple attempts to acquire DuckDuckGo but is blocked by regulators, it would arguably put Apple in a worse position than ever, given that Google and Microsoft would then know Apple has no alternatives.”
This does not make much sense to me. It's not the kind of thing I see regulators going after. Happy to be schooled though.