Analysts at Axiom Financial recently released a report following up on several news stories about Apple Inc. AAPL 1.88%‘s new Applebot web crawler for SIRI and Spotlight Suggestions. According to Axiom’s report, Apple is expanding its internal search group to pave the way for the creation of its own search engine.
If Apple intends to make a major push into the search business, they would be taking on the gold standard in search, Google Inc GOOG 1.42% GOOGL 1.27%, as well as competitors Microsoft Corporation MSFT 2.25% and Yahoo! Inc. YHOO 0.5%.
What Is A Web Crawler?
Web crawlers like Googlebot and Applebot are not actually search engines themselves. They are Internet bots that “crawl” through numerous web pages and catalog web content into an easily-searchable database.
When an Internet search is performed on Google or Bing, the search engine quickly searches the web crawler’s database rather than performing a lengthy search of the entire Internet, allowing for search results to be generated almost instantly.
What Does Applebot Mean For Google?
According to Axiom, Apple will likely drop Google as the default search provider on iOS and OS X sometime this month. While on the surface, this move seems like it could have a severe impact on Google, analysts point out Apple’s disastrous attempt to transition from Google Maps to its own home-grown mapping system in the past.
In addition, analysts add that new search entrants will find it difficult to compete with Google’s entrenched position as the top search provider.
What Does Applebot Mean For Yahoo?
The creation of an Apple search engine could actually have a much more severe impact on Yahoo than Google. Past statements by Marissa Mayer have indicated that Yahoo has been angling for a search partnership with Apple. If Apple intends to move forward into search on its own, one major possible Yahoo catalysts falls by the wayside.
Outlook
Despite the bad news for both Yahoo and Google, analysts remain positive on the stocks. Axiom has Buy ratings on both names.
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