Alphabet’s Earnings Disappoint. Blame It on the iPhone.br Its profits were weighed down by an increase in traffic acquisition costs — the fees Google pays companies like Apple to ensurebr that its search engine is the default option when people open a browser on the iPhone.br Alphabet said Google’s traffic acquisition costs in the quarter increased 33 percent from a year earlier, to $6.45 billion.br In the fourth quarter, users clicked on 48 percent more ads on Google sites — including search and YouTube — than a year earlierbr SAN FRANCISCO — Quarter after quarter, investors have become accustomed to Alphabet’s revenue and profit growing at a pacebr that seems to defy gravity for a company well past its start-up years.br Last year, Bernstein Research estimated that Google would pay about $3 billion tobr Apple in 2017 to remain the default search option on Apple’s mobile devices.