Apple vs. Google is ‘World War III’
For months already rumors have circulated that relations between the two companies are strained. Now a new report quoting a lot unnamed people has added gasoline to the mix, and the hubris is really beginning to fly. Â Steve Jobs has declared war against searchzilla and it’s gonna get ugly (i.e. extremely entertaining).
The New York Times has published a fairly lengthy writeup on the growing war of words and, increasingly actions, between Apple and Google. In the piece, knowledgeable people, both named and anonymous, make the case that things have gotten bad and will only be getting worse.
“It’s World War III. Amazing animosity is motivating two of the most powerful people in the industry,†says a well-connected Silicon Valley investor. “This is emotional. This is the biggest ego battle in history. It’s incendiary.â€
Yes, Google entered the smartphone market with Android. Yes, Apple has sued Google’s top manufacturing partner, Taiwan’s HTC, and they went out of their way to block Google Voice.
Yes, there’ve been a few verbal barbs, as well.
But, World War III? Possible, though an all out war seems unlikely if not outright stupid.
Frenemies…
Ultimately, both companies have much more to gain by working together. Yes, Apple could choose Bing as the default search engine for its mobile product line — iPhone, iPod touch and iPad — but that would most likely be a tactical move.
Nevertheless, Microsoft is still the long-term, intractable foe of both Apple and Google. Then there’s Adobe, too. It’s hard to imagine either side could become blinded to this reality…
What’s your take?
Related Posts:
March 15th, 2010
Microsoft is not anywhere close to being able to inflict the damage Google poises to Apple. Android+Chrome+consumer devices=some possible significant impact.
Microsoft Mobile and Zune are unlikely to do anything. Bing isn’t going to be more than an irritant. Microsoft has little to fear from either of these companies as long as they stay away from the server rooms and commercial markets. Apple can’t by it’s marketing model, and it doesn’t make sense for Google to expend too much in resources with all the low hanging fruit in the consumer sector.
Exactly what does Apple offer to Google? A competing phone OS and booting apps out of their iPhone store?
Android isn’t limited to a single US carrier or a few models of hardware.
Google is a lot more like the Microsoft of 10-15 years ago. Hardware agnostic with the ability to leverage other manufacturers as a big R&D division.
They are also perfectly positioned for Slates. Picasa, Earth, Gmail, Docs, Ebooks, Google Apps etc..
A slate with a camera, the Chrome OS and a couple of voice accounts so teenagers do simple video conferencing? Either from wifi or any wireless except AT&T? Should be interesting when all those 3G iPads start hammering the system.
I’m not seeing where it’s outright stupid at all. iPhones at around 25% of the market and Macs hanging around 10%. Apple doesn’t even blink before tossing out Google Voice from the App Store.
It’s really hard to understand this fixation Apple enthusiasts have with Microsoft. They aren’t really playing in the same sandbox anymore.
March 16th, 2010
The irony is that the competitive nature of Apple-Microsoft is that it’s Ballmer who’s the competitive one… Gates and Jobsy are old buddies who chat some times.
The issue is that, as reported elsewhere… the Google boys consulted Steve on numerous occasions and Schmidt was a sort of corporate interloper building bridges…
But is seemed that schmidty was doing more than just being a buddy… he was listening with his cone on the Apple walls on Apple strategy and such… then siphoning it to the G-Halls so they could do what they always did…mimic everyone else’s lab work with cheap open source stuff that is half baked.
Google picked the wrong one to shadow box with.
Google don’t want to be seen as simple search ad business model…
They need a lab and not a big photocopier.