Search Versus Gold Cuffs

"We should switch while we have the chance. To Search."

The words came straight from Steve Jobs’ mouth.

It was the kind of statement that could only be called a bombshell.

But the moment he said it, Jobs let out a deep sigh.

He knew better than anyone just how unreal it sounded, himself included.

"But realistically, there’s a problem, isn’t there, Tim?"

At Jobs’ question, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook, gave a wry smile and nodded.

"Yes, Steve. The biggest problem is still… money."

Tim Cook paused to think, then continued.

"Right now, Google pays us a substantial amount every year in exchange for making its search engine the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠default on Apple products. Based on last year alone, that was nearly 100 million dollars… and if Apple phone sales rise this year, that figure will only increase."

That was right. Google was paying Apple to steer users toward its search engine.

Simply leaving Google Search as the default put 100 million dollars of net profit into Apple’s account every year.

For Apple, the money Google offered was enormous.

It came without any development costs or marketing effort whatsoever.

...What a business this is.

No matter how much Jobs hated Google, it wasn’t easy to walk away from a deal like that.

And that was exactly the cuff Google had locked around Apple’s wrist. A golden one, at that.

Tim Cook went on.

"If we switch to Search now, that cash flow disappears immediately. And we wouldn’t be able to replace it anywhere else overnight. On top of that, the shareholders would panic. If the board’s seen as throwing away guaranteed profit, the stock price will nosedive."

That was why Apple had never developed its own search engine.

First, building one from scratch would cost a staggering amount.

And even if they spent that money, there was no guarantee they’d actually succeed.

And even if they somehow did succeed, the moment they installed it, the hundreds of millions Google paid them would vanish.

No CEO in the world could absorb that kind of loss.

Even if that CEO was Steve Jobs.

"Hmm…"

Jobs leaned back deeply in his chair.

This is frustrating. It feels like the perfect chance to break away from Google once and for all…

There was an innovative product right in front of him, and yet because of the practical matter of money, he had to keep using Google.

And I can’t exactly ask Another Technology for money.

Jobs thought of the person called Zero, with whom he had spoken on the phone before.

Judging by that utterly unflinching attitude, even while speaking with him, Zero would probably scoff if Apple asked to pay for the privilege of installing the search engine.

After all, Search was far superior to Google.

Apple would be the one begging to pay for the opportunity, not the other way around.

If the tables were turned and someone said that to me, I’d have cursed them out and hung up. “Stop talking nonsense.”

Then what now?

In the end, there’s only one way.

He had to prove that removing Google Search and replacing it with Search was worth more than the hundreds of millions Google paid them.

But that was a near-impossible calculation.

The value of Apple phone market share growth thanks to Search, versus the hundreds of millions in cash landing in the bank right now.

Shareholders wanted dividends they could see, not future value they couldn’t touch.

After all these long years of economic crisis, the company is finally recovering…

Jobs stared blankly at the Galleon’s screen.

Against the black background, the minimalist glow of Search stood out.

The perfect means of breaking away from Google was right there in front of him, and yet he couldn’t seize it.

What do I do…?

He was deep in thought when—

Knock, knock.

The conference room door opened, breaking the silence. It was his personal secretary.

"Steve. It’s time."

"…Ah."

Jobs snapped back to reality and glanced at the clock. It was the appointed time.

The meeting with the doctors.

The cancer that had been gnawing away at Steve Jobs from the inside for a long time.

Recently his condition had been worsening rapidly, so even in a situation this important, he had no choice but to leave the room.

Slowly, Jobs pushed himself to his feet.

"Let’s leave this meeting here for now."

─ Yes.

Only Apple’s board members knew about Jobs’ condition. It was strictly confidential.

Everyone in the room knew that much.

So even if you can’t break away from Google because of money, and even if you have money, health is still impossible to protect. Life really is ironic.

Maybe because his body had been deteriorating so quickly, Jobs had been thinking philosophically much more often lately, as if he were back in his younger years.

* * *

Tuesday morning.

I sat in my studio apartment, staring at the numbers streaming endlessly across my laptop screen.

It was the live traffic dashboard for Search.

The numbers pulsed like living things. It had only been a week since launch, but both user traffic and search volume were already substantial.

So this is the power Google used to hold.

Drrrrk.

I rested my chin on my hand and scrolled down.

Right now, Search was available not just on Galleon smartphones but also on ordinary computers.

And I could see every word people typed into its search bar.

Their desires, their worries, their secrets.

One person searched for “hair loss treatment,” another for “today’s stock market,” and another for “how to win back an ex.”

People lie to doctors. They lie to police. They even lie in church.

But in front of a search bar, they were honest.

Because they were looking for what they desperately wanted—or what they desperately needed.

"I can see why they say Google is god."

Who was curious about what, when, and where.

Having that data in your hands meant you could read the flow of the world.

That said.

I looked away from the laptop. My Galleon sat in the corner of the desk.

It looks like I can take over the Android search market without much trouble. Google’s tech lead is too wide, so people will keep drifting toward Search.

But there was a problem.

Apple’s search engine.

Apple was currently the undisputed ruler of the smartphone market, and in the future it would still take more than 60 percent of the world’s smartphone market.

If I couldn’t conquer Apple’s search market too, then I couldn’t honestly say I’d taken the search market in any meaningful sense.

"The problem is that Apple won’t put my search engine on there for free…"

I drummed my fingers on the desk.

Apple was the ultimate closed ecosystem.

They were perfectionists who insisted on using only the software they made for the hardware they made.

Which meant that no matter how personally close I was to Jobs, even to the point of taking his private calls, they wouldn’t simply open up their own living room and hand over the search engine market.

Still, the default search engine on Apple phones is Google.

What an odd situation.

Apple hated using anything that belonged to someone else. Steve Jobs, especially, had been calling Google “thieves” and hating them ever since Android appeared.

And yet, the most important function on Apple phones—the search engine—was still Google.

Money, obviously. But Zero, Jobs does want to cut ties with Google, doesn’t he?

"That’s correct. Jobs wants to break away from Google somehow. We’ve also confirmed that internally, Apple is reviewing either developing independent search technology or partnering with Microsoft."

But it won’t be easy.

"Correct."

History made ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it clear. Apple would become king of hardware and OS, but it would never truly have much luck in search.

Even after pouring in enormous amounts of money, time, and brilliant talent, it never surpassed Google’s fortress.

So in the end, it recognized Google as a necessary evil and handed over search in exchange for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠annual support payments that started in the hundreds of millions and eventually rose to billions.

The longer time passes, the harder it’ll be for Apple to give up Google. The money Google pays keeps getting bigger. So before that happens… before Apple settles completely into Google’s arms, I need to wedge myself into that gap.

I folded my arms and sank into thought.

Zero. If I suggest to Jobs that he use my search engine, would he accept? What if I propose that we team up as a way to strike at Google?

"Jobs would probably love the idea of attacking Google, but he still wouldn’t hand Apple’s search market over to Master. As Master knows, Google is currently paying Apple money. Quite a lot of it."

…

"In that situation, a simple offer like, ‘Try this search engine; it’s better,’ won’t work. Jobs himself may be tempted, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Apple’s board and shareholders won’t give up profits that could disappear overnight."

In the end, if I wanted my search engine inside Apple, the math said I’d have to pay more than Google did.

I let out a snort.

I don’t want to do that.

My search engine was armed with future algorithms.

It was faster, more accurate, and more complete than any service in existence.

And I was supposed to pay Apple to install it? Sure, in the long run you could call that an investment to dominate the market, but even so, it was painful.

Well… that’s what I thought, but honestly, there’s no way I can realistically outbid Google’s cash right now either.

No matter how much money I’d made, trying to play a money war with a giant like Google was like throwing eggs at a boulder.

Then I need to prove, beyond any doubt, that Jobs and Apple’s board stand to gain more from using my search engine than from Google’s money.

I closed my eyes and thought it through.

What, right now and in the future, was the biggest difficulty and risk for Steve Jobs and Apple?

Seongsam’s rising smartphone momentum will be a problem, and Android’s growing market share will be a problem too.

But those were things Apple could somehow fight back against.

I needed something Apple couldn’t overcome on its own, something I could solve for them.

...There it is.

A word flashed through my mind.

A fate no millionaire genius could avoid—or rather, precisely because he was a genius, a fate he couldn’t escape.

Health.

Right now, Jobs was dying. From pancreatic cancer.

And that was the most urgent problem Apple and Steve Jobs had to solve immediately.

Of course, I’m not suddenly going to develop a miracle drug or anything.

Even if I had the technology to develop pharmaceuticals, I couldn’t make one myself.

I wasn’t a doctor, and I didn’t have a medical research institute.

So if there was another way besides that, it would be nice…

Besides, it’d be weird if I suddenly told Jobs, “I know you’re dying of cancer. I’ll help cure you.”

I knew because I had future information, but Jobs’ illness was top secret even within Apple.

And for good reason. If word got out that Jobs was dying of cancer, Apple’s stock would absolutely plunge.

While I was thinking, Zero spoke.

"There is a way for Master to help Steve Jobs. And the chances are high that he will propose it first. Not in the field of medicine, but in the field of computers."

Steve Jobs was going to suggest a way to save himself to me first?

And through computers?

* * *

At the same time, in the United States.

A mansion Steve Jobs had secretly rented.

It was filled with the best medical staff in the world.

Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Stanford, and more.

Doctors from university hospitals said to be able to bring the dead back to life.

With that many of them gathered, on any normal day the place would have been buzzing with debates over the latest medical breakthroughs.

But now, only a heavy silence hung in the air.

─ …….

─ …….

─ …….

─ …….

─ …….

─ …….

The reason they had gathered in this mansion was simple.

To save Steve Jobs, the icon of this era.

They tightened their grip on the charts in their hands, or adjusted their glasses for no real reason at all, each one stealing glances at the others.

At last, in the oppressive silence, Steve Jobs broke it with a sigh.

"…So."

His cracked voice scraped across the conference room.

"The conclusion is that I’m going to die soon?"