Every time we do a search through Siri or through the search engine integrated in iOS and macOS, the first results always link to WikipediaThis being an important source of information for the Apple assistant and the Apple ecosystem in general, however, there is no financial relationship between the two companies.
But that could change, since according to Wired, the Wikimedia Foundation, which manages Wikipedia and other derivative projects, has presented a new commercial project baptized as Wikimedia Enterprisa and that will be launched throughout 2021, and with which it seeks to increase revenue.
According to this medium, the conversations between Wikipedia and the big tech companies They are already underway and the deals could close in early June. Although the report does not specify that Apple is one of the companies, it is most likely that it is together with Google and Microsoft in addition to Amazon.
Lane Becker, senior director of the Foundation and one of the people in charge of this project affirms that:
It is the first time that the foundation has recognized that commercial users are users of our service. We have known they are there, but we have never really treated them as a user base.
Wired claims the free option used by big tech companies will still be available but it has proven inefficient for many. It might even make more financial sense to change the payment business project.
In 2018, Wikipedia's CFO Lisa Seitz-Gruwell criticized Apple in an interview for use this platform without financially collaborating.
I highly doubt that both Apple and Microsoft, Google and Amazon it costs them a lot to collaborate economically with this non-profit project that bases its existence on the collaboration of its users.