Ars: What is the actual path to Gecko on iPhone? Apple now provides routes for alternative engines in the EU and Japan. Which remaining obstacles are Apple’s requirements, and which ones are engineering cost restrictions?
Varma: The biggest challenge for us is, we’re not a big tech company, so for us, forking to build two different versions of iOS, one for markets where this is possible and then for markets where it’s not possible, would mean we would basically have to double the size of our iOS team. And so what we’ve been pushing on Apple and regulators is, can we have a single set of global rules that allows us to build Gecko across the world?
I think it’s great, what’s happened in certain markets, but the reality is, it’s very challenging for us to actually invest to create this global, forked system. There are also just limitations like, well, how do you appear in the App Store? You can only have a single app. There are challenges of how you do migration and stuff that are also there. But I think the primary challenge is still that the cost goes up pretty significantly to have to build two totally different builds on iOS.
Ars: Speaking of cost and revenue, Firefox is dependent on its search deal with Google. There’s the concern that if that ends, Firefox may be in a tougher spot. But also, longer term, do you worry about your dependence on Google search revenue in a time of rapid change with LLMs that could bring into question Google’s long-term search dominance?
Varma: This is definitely a big question. I don’t think anyone really knows what’s gonna happen in the long term, but in the short term I’d say that I think competition is great—it’s why I work on Firefox. It would be great for there to be legitimate competitors to Google, which I think is the right outcome for consumers. I think it’s the best outcome for Firefox.
But in the short term, Google is doing really well, and so when we look at it as the power of AI and LLMs, it doesn’t mean yet that people are moving from Google searches over to LLMs. It actually is growing the overall pie. Search queries and monetizable queries are actually going up. Google’s also integrating AI Mode pretty deeply into search results. And again, this goes into techies versus the average person out there. For the average person, the muscle memory of going to Google is still very strong.
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