BOTTOM LINE: On September 2nd, a US District Court ruled that Google will not be barred from paying Apple for pre-loading or placement of Google Search, Chrome, or Gen AI products. That said, the Court ruled that Google's paid agreements with partners - including Apple - cannot require exclusivity. Given Apple can continue to receive traffic acquisition cost ("TAC") payments from Google, we view this decision as positive for AAPL, which we estimate to have received nearly ~$23 bn in TAC revenue in F2024. Ap ...