Microsoft won an auction to have its search engine offered as a default option on Android devices in 13 European countries from 1 October to 31 December.
In a blog on its Android website, Google announced the winners of a regular auction to add other default search engine option to future devices in all European Union member states along with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and the UK.
During Q4, Bing will be available in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK: TechCrunch reported it was previously only on offer in the UK between 1 March and 30 June
Other search engines winning Q4 spots include info.com which will be available in all 31 countries; PrivacyWall (22) and GMX Search (16).
Users in eight markets will be able to select Yandex as their default search engine, while DuckDuckGo will be an option for four.
The auction terms state bidders need to pay a price each time a user selects them as a default search engine.
DuckDuckGo criticised the process in a blog, stating the auction was “pay to play” as it incentivised bidders to offer what they can expect to gain for each user selection. “Google’s auction further incentivises search engines to be worse on privacy, to increase adverts, and to not donate to good causes, because, if they do those things, then they could afford to bid higher”, the search engine provider said.
Google initiated auctions from March in response to a European Commission ruling it had abused the dominant position of its operating system.
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