Tim Cook should consider penning a thank-you note to Google, though it would pain him to do so.
The licensing fees that Google-parent Alphabet Inc. pays to Apple Inc. to direct traffic to its search business are kept under tight wraps by both companies. But the fees appear to have played a notable role in the iPhone maker’s most recent quarter. In its quarterly filing with the SEC on Wednesday, Apple named licensing as the top contributor to the 31% year-over-year jump in services revenue the company reported for its fiscal...