Watch out Google, the rumour mill is grinding and sources suggest that Apple is developing a search engine to rival the search giant - I can hear Google sniggering as I type!

The news, which came out of TechCrunch.com, may well be influenced by the fact that Google’s Android OS looks set to take a chunk out of the iPhone market - fight fire with fire, boys.

Although this rumour seems to be a death wish it’s actually quite a logical move on Apple’s part - right now, iPods and iPhones own a seriously large chunk of the market for their respective sectors. By building a search engine which integrates into OS X and charging for ad space Apple could pull in some serious moolah. Then there’s Safari - make an Apple search engine the default setting, sit back and let the money roll in.

TechCrunch does go on to point out that Apple may simply be redesigning the user experience for searching whilst retaining Google as the engine of choice.

Either way, Google currently holds the search engine crown. To beat them, Apple will have to produce something specatular which integrates easily and provides the relevancy users want. Integration will be simple for Apple - they own OS X, the rest…let’s wait and see.

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