{"id":8413,"date":"2014-11-19T11:16:56","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T18:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/?p=8413"},"modified":"2014-11-19T17:38:37","modified_gmt":"2014-11-20T00:38:37","slug":"promoting-choice-and-innovation-on-the-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/blogarchive\/blog\/2014\/11\/19\/promoting-choice-and-innovation-on-the-web\/","title":{"rendered":"New Search Strategy for Firefox: Promoting Choice & Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten years ago, we built Firefox to keep the Internet in each of our hands \u2014 to create choice and put people in control of their lives online. Our focus has been on building products that drive the competition, energy and innovation we all need to keep the Web open, everywhere and independent. And last week, we pledged to do more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Firefox & Web Search<\/h2>\n

Search is a core part of the online experience for everyone — Firefox users alone search the Web more than 100 billion times per year.<\/p>\n

With Firefox, we popularized the integration of search in the browser. We partnered with Internet companies including Google, Yahoo and others to provide an improved search experience and generate revenue to advance Mozilla\u2019s mission<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When we instituted a default search option, we broke from the industry standard by refusing commercial terms that demanded exclusivity. And throughout the last 10 years, we have always provided pre-installed alternatives, and easy ways for our users to change, add or remove search engines.<\/p>\n

Google has been the Firefox global search default since 2004. Our agreement came up for renewal this year, and we took this as an opportunity to review our competitive strategy and explore our options.<\/p>\n

In evaluating our search partnerships, our primary consideration was to ensure our strategy aligned with our values of choice and independence, and positions us to innovate and advance our mission in ways that best serve our users and the Web. In the end, each of the partnership options available to us had strong, improved economic terms reflecting the significant value that Firefox brings to the ecosystem. But one strategy stood out from the rest.<\/p>\n

Promoting Choice and Innovation<\/h2>\n

Today we are announcing a change to our strategy for Firefox search partnerships. We are ending our practice of having a single global default search provider. We are adopting a more local and flexible approach to increase choice and innovation on the Web, with new and expanded search partnerships by country:<\/p>\n

United States<\/h3>\n