Apple Vs. Google: Are The Gloves About To Come Off?
It wasn't so long ago that Apple's CEO Steve Jobs was introducing the original iPhone to the world, and on hand to help him do it was none other than Eric E. Schmidt, the chief executive of Google. Google played a huge role in the software side of the iPhone, as both the Google App, integrated Google search within Mobile Safari and Google Maps were included. To say the iPhone relied heavily on Google would be an understatement.
But look at the mobile landscape today. One could easily argue that the iPhone's largest rival is any phone with Android, and just in case you've forgotten, Android is made by (you guessed it!) Google. For awhile, no one really said anything. It was one of those situations where you knew tensions were running high, but no one was brave enough to step forward and ask if Apple and Google were still on speaking terms. During the iPhone's introduction, Schmidt even said that Apple and Google should combine to form "AppleGoo" (joking of course), and even today Google's big shots praise Jobs for the job he has done at Apple.
But that's just public perception. A variety of insider reports have come to The New York Times, and it all boils down to this: Jobs isn't happy about the situation, and in fact, he feels betrayed by Google. He has said in the past that Apple has yet to venture into the search market, yet Google has jumped directly into the phone market. Jobs also believes that Google wants to see the iPhone die, but that's certainly more speculation than anything else.
In fact, those in the know are saying that the internal battle between Google and Apple is reaching Intel vs. AMD status, and it may not be long before the lid blows off. We've already seen that Apple is capable of taking a stand; they sued HTC for violating a litany of patents, and it seems that Jobs believes that Google has copied some of Android's aspects from the iPhone OS. That alone should cause concern, as another lawsuit could fly out at any time.
So, what'll happen between these two giants? Only time will tell, but we don't think "nothing" is the correct answer. There's obviously too much bad blood between the two for everything to just get swept under the rug, and with Android driving up market share, it's only a matter of time before Apple simply won't take it any more. Could things get so bad that Google Maps are taken off of the iPhone? Will Bing become Safari's default search engine? This could get ugly, but honestly, we're hoping for a clean resolution for the sake of every iPhone and Android user out there.
But look at the mobile landscape today. One could easily argue that the iPhone's largest rival is any phone with Android, and just in case you've forgotten, Android is made by (you guessed it!) Google. For awhile, no one really said anything. It was one of those situations where you knew tensions were running high, but no one was brave enough to step forward and ask if Apple and Google were still on speaking terms. During the iPhone's introduction, Schmidt even said that Apple and Google should combine to form "AppleGoo" (joking of course), and even today Google's big shots praise Jobs for the job he has done at Apple.
But that's just public perception. A variety of insider reports have come to The New York Times, and it all boils down to this: Jobs isn't happy about the situation, and in fact, he feels betrayed by Google. He has said in the past that Apple has yet to venture into the search market, yet Google has jumped directly into the phone market. Jobs also believes that Google wants to see the iPhone die, but that's certainly more speculation than anything else.
In fact, those in the know are saying that the internal battle between Google and Apple is reaching Intel vs. AMD status, and it may not be long before the lid blows off. We've already seen that Apple is capable of taking a stand; they sued HTC for violating a litany of patents, and it seems that Jobs believes that Google has copied some of Android's aspects from the iPhone OS. That alone should cause concern, as another lawsuit could fly out at any time.
So, what'll happen between these two giants? Only time will tell, but we don't think "nothing" is the correct answer. There's obviously too much bad blood between the two for everything to just get swept under the rug, and with Android driving up market share, it's only a matter of time before Apple simply won't take it any more. Could things get so bad that Google Maps are taken off of the iPhone? Will Bing become Safari's default search engine? This could get ugly, but honestly, we're hoping for a clean resolution for the sake of every iPhone and Android user out there.
