Tuesday, December 10

Why Firefox Ditched Yahoo To Make Google Its Default Search Engine

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]irefox Quantum is here. Mozilla took some time to come up with something like that, something which is better, faster and lighter. The last couple of years have not been great for Firefox. Chrome browser, that took it back in the late 2011 now dominates the market with more than 60 percent, figures as suggested by StatCounter.

With this release, Mozilla has set aside his deal with Yahoo that he made in 2014, to make it the default search engine provider for users in US, with others as options. With this not being the only noticeable change, Firefox has now started to keep in mind user’s interests, which it seemed to have forgotten long ago about.

“We looked at real world hardware to make Firefox look great on any display, and we made sure that Firefox looks and works like Firefox regardless of the device you’re using,” SVP Mark Mayo explains in a post. “Our designers created a system that scales to more than just current hardware but lets us expand in the future.”

Image: Mozilla

While the deal was supposed to last five years, which is obviously not over, yet is has ended!!

“We exercised our contractual right to terminate our agreement with Yahoo! based on a number of factors including doing what’s best for our brand, our effort to provide quality web search, and the broader content experience for our users. We believe there are opportunities to work with Oath and Verizon outside of search,” Mozilla Chief Business and Legal Officer Denelle Dixon said in a statement.

“As part of our focus on user experience and performance in Firefox Quantum, Google will also become our new default search provider in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong and Taiwan. With over 60 search providers pre-installed as defaults or secondary options across more than 90 language versions, Firefox has more choice in search providers than any other browser,” it added.

It was also reported earlier that Mozilla would have to pay $375 million per year through 2019 if it walked away from the deal. It is yet not clear if Mozilla invoked this clause to terminate the agreement, but it seems likely.

None of the details between Mozilla and Google are yet disclosed, but from history it can be seen that back in 2014, the last year of Google deal, it brought a net $323 million of the foundation’s $330 million in total revenue.

 

(With inputs from TechCrunch)