Cable TV is a fundamentally wrong analogy here, because there is only one search bar and only one default search provider, not a near-infinite number of channels to be filled.<p>Being the default search engine on iPhone means you can generate a lot of revenue, and so it is a valuable position to sell.  As you say, Google got outbid by Yahoo a couple years ago for Firefox.  If Google weren&#x27;t paying, apple would sell the search bar to somebody else.