
Ask HN: Should Apple buy DuckDuckGo? - nicklasss
Given Apple commitment to privacy, and sharing almost every service with Google (Maps, storage, browser, OS, etc.) except search and DuckDuckGo having a great momentum, this looks like an obvious step, what would stop Apple from doing that?
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madamelic
Apple Maps is a complete joke compared to Google Maps, especially when in a
city.

Apple Maps is horrendous with navigation and is frequently out of date. For
example, my partner was sent an address, they clicked the address and Apple
Maps opened. After two hours of driving, we realized Apple Maps had silently
changed the address slightly because it thought we were wrong.

We caught the error and tried to correct. Apple was insistent that the address
didn't exist, while Google Maps happily did what we asked.

I uninstalled Apple Maps from my partner's phone.

\---

All of this is to say: Apple is not competitive with Google in a lot of
respects. Even in OS, they are different ideals and aren't interchangeable in
my opinion.

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stephenr
So what you're saying is - when a free mapping solution that goes to
extraordinary lengths to protect your privacy. offered by a company that makes
it's profits on tangible hardware made a mistake, instead of using the built-
in 'report problem' feature, you chose to remove that app, and use a service
offered by a company that literally makes its money by collecting unimaginable
amounts of data about you, your family, what you do, where you work, what you
eat what you buy, and where you were going on that journey?

Am I the only person who finds this insane?

~~~
cromiium
For some people it's about getting to the destination on time. Plus on the way
there I don't think they were about to send a report ticket.

~~~
stephenr
Who said s/he had to report a ticket on the way to the location?

The only action reported (which also likely happened after that specific
journey):

> I uninstalled Apple Maps from my partner's phone.

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peburns
DDG's allure now is its independence. Acquisition by a FAANG would doom it
almost immediately.

Stay the course.

~~~
codegladiator
DDG's allure is that it doesn't track you. Apple has a track record of
investing into not tracking you, so IMO acquisition by FANG might be doom for
it but acquisition by `A` wouldn't be.

~~~
abc-xyz
While Apple isn't as bad as the others, they're still morally bankrupt (e.g.
supporting censorship, removing VPNs from the Chinese store, giving
governments access to messages, email and other private stuff stored in the
cloud). I sincerely hope (and believe) that DDG will never become evil like
Apple.

~~~
r00fus
So Apple is morally bankrupt because they operate in China and obey Chinese
laws for Chinese jurisdiction?

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detaro
Given that DDG doesn't run their own full index (as far as I know), what would
Apple gain? + I suspect many users would be wary of it being owned by any
large player, even if it's Apple.

They also make a lot of money from Google providing the search.

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keiferski
It would be better for Apple to develop their own search engine. I really,
truly hope they are working on one.

~~~
rajacombinator
Apple definitely doesn’t have the competency to do this.

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clubm8
I didn't realize DDG was for sale. Isn't the a bit presumptive of a question
OP?

~~~
onetimemanytime
>> _I didn 't realize DDG was for sale_

Everything is for sale...

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jthomas2121
I personally don't want to see that, but who am I? I understand why these
companies sell out to larger conglomerates, but it simply narrows the spectrum
for regular users and as we've seen with Google, that doesn't add true value
in the end.

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gesman
Probably would make more sense for FB.

However I'd rather see DDG become strong player on it's own gradually
crippling into GOOG domination to the benefits of all.

~~~
romanovcode
People who use DDG would drop it the moment they would hear about FB acquiring
it. I don't see the point.

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myworkhandle
No

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hotdox
After Apple Buys DDG, major search API providers can switch off access.

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teacpde
It doesn’t seem to be a good investment financially for Apple, sure privacy is
good, but will DDG bring more people to Apple eco system? Probably not.

~~~
h1d
More like getting off of other's control.

