Rumors have been flying ever since Android launched that Apple will be replacing the search giant’s services on the iPhone. The latest, which seems completely ridiculous for a reason, is that Apple is going to build a search engine. The Business Insider says the biggest reason to keep Google on is that the search provider pays Apple upwards of $100 million a year for the iPhone deal.

For a company like Apple, $100 million isn’t exactly a lot. It’s more like mortgage payment, but it’s enough to keep Apple from entering an already saturated search market. There’s no denying that Google and Apple now have a contentious relationship. As Business Insider has it, it only took two weeks to nail down the original Google Maps deal for the iPhone. When the 3GS launched it took six months.

Source: Business Insider at Gizmodo

According to an article at BusinessWeek, Apple and Microsoft may be in talks to bring Bing to the iPhone to replace Google. If that’s not a case of strange bedfellows, I don’t know what is.

The article is based on information from “two people familiar with the matter,” so it could be nothing. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple move away from Google, though, being that the search giant is becoming the iPhone’s real competitor for cellular market share. Sure, there’s Windows Mobile 7, but that’s on Duke Nukem status right now.

Of course, changing the search engine doesn’t exactly sever ties between Google and the iPhone. There’s still Google Maps, YouTube, and integrated Gmail support, so this wouldn’t really be the blow to Google that Apple might be hoping for.