I don't think they need to worry about this — traffic from Apple devices is oxygen to Google, which is why Google pays Apple $15 billion per year just to be the default web search provider.
But Apple has been quietly working on a search backup plan for many years, and they've been in the email business for longer than Google's existed. (I migrated a couple decades worth of email from Google Workspace last year, and I haven't regretted it so far.) I don't think building a YouTube competitor would be interesting for them.
> I don't think they need to worry about this — traffic from Apple devices is oxygen to Google
Which remains there when people switch to Chrome
> But Apple has been quietly working on a search backup plan for many years, and they've been in the email business for longer than Google's existed
Ah yes. They will just flip on the non-existent rumored Google-level search and the non-existent public email service to take on Google monopoly in search and email.
> Which remains there when people switch to Chrome
Fewer than 5% of iOS users will switch to Chrome as their dedicated browser. (In-app browsers will continue to be WebKit.)
> They will just flip on the non-existent rumored Google-level search…
Just like the flipped on the M1 after a long gestation period, exactly. It was 2015 when Applebot was first noticed crawling the web. A couple hundred employees with Apple's resources can do a lot in 7 years.
> …and the non-existent public email service…
iCloud Mail is Apple's public email services, and very few companies hosting email at Apple scale — iCloud has over a billion active users. If you have access to a Mac or Windows PC (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204283), you can set it up today. iCloud+ adds support for custom email domains.
But Apple has been quietly working on a search backup plan for many years, and they've been in the email business for longer than Google's existed. (I migrated a couple decades worth of email from Google Workspace last year, and I haven't regretted it so far.) I don't think building a YouTube competitor would be interesting for them.