Till now, Apple has been mostly absent from online and search engine markets. But according to TechCrunch, there is a strong possibility that the company may either build its own search engine, or will at least develop a search engine interface for its own applications.

TechCrunch reports that Apple may soon give competition to search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. The publication says it believes that Apple’s reason behind the move would be to look for an avenue of monetization for all the traffic it can capture through its Safari browser and elsewhere across the Web.

Apple, like many others, would want a slice of the online advertising pie estimated by the Kelsey Group at $45 billion globally in 2007, or 7.4% of the total $600 billion global advertising market.

It is also quite plausible that Google’s entrance into the cellphone market could be motivation enough for Apple to enter the search engine business. Though the G1 Android may not knock down the iPhone, Android-powered devices slated for 2009 will definitely increase the pressure on Apple through Android’s openness and Google branding.

However, there is no information in support TechCrunch’s claim of Apple search engine. The company is not publicly hiring search engine engineers, and it would be difficult to create a profitable business model for a product that is rather unlikely to be able to compete effectively with Google or Yahoo straightaway.

Moreover, Apple’s current strategy is more or less tied to its hardware, with no substantial reason for the company to jump into another market.