Google Rumored to be Paying $100 Million to Apple for Google Search on the iPhone

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The iPhone is not only bringing in serious cash to Apple but to third party service providers and developers too. One of them is Google which is surely cashing in on all that mobile search that iPhone users perform while on the go. But the recent unspoken tensions between Apple and Google might make Cupertino ditch Google Search and replace it either with Microsoft’s Bing or with its own Search Engine.

We are already aware of the fact that Apple is pursuing its own search-related secret agenda. After all why shouldn’t they since Google also happens to step on Apple’s territory more and more often?

Earlier this year we told you that Apple has purchased mobile advertising agency Quattro Wireless for a cool $275. The former CEO of the later was given a new position at Cupertino, vice president of Mobile Advertising. Aren’t these clear indications that official Google Search on the iPhone might disappear soon?

However, according to other sources Google is cutting a $100 million check per year to Apple. That’s Cupertino’s share of all that mobile search done from the iPhone. Not bad you say but $100 million is really nothing compared to Apple’s current income. We still recall Steve Jobs’ iPad keynote and the numbers he bragged with just before showing the iPad to the world. Apple’s revenue for the last quarter amounted to $15.68 billion.

In other words Apple could ditch Google at any time it chooses to, without feeling an ounce of remorse for losing that extra $100 million. But is Apple really ready to offer us a new search alternative? I still prefer Google when it comes to online search even if the Mountain View-based company is slowly taking over the Internet. In other words I’m less likely to Bing or even INSERT-APPLE’S-FUTURE-SEARCH-ENGINE-NAME-HERE. I’ll still Google for stuff from my mobile phone until someone convinces me that there’s a better alternative.