Google v Apple: ‘it’s World War III’

The ongoing feud between Google and Apple, described by a Silicon Valley bigwig as "World War III", is developing into a battle between the search giant's public-spirited underdog and Steve Jobs's incipient corporate ogre - with Microsoft holding Apple's coat.

Readers of The First Post will be familiar with the deterioration of the relationship between Apple and Google, which appears rooted in the latter's efforts to branch out from its core business of making wheelbarrow-loads of cash through advertising based around its search engine. In the process it has stepped into Apple's territory, provoking what looks remarkably like a turf war.

Now, in a detailed feature in the New York Times on the relationship between the two companies - once so close that not only did Google CEO Eric Schmidt sit on the board of Apple, but they had a pact not to poach each other's employees - an anonymous, influential Silicon Valley investor has described the rivalry in apocalyptic terms:

"It's World War III. Amazing animosity is motivating two of the most powerful people in the industry. This is emotional. This is the biggest ego battle in history. It's incendiary."

The New York Times feature cites a recent patent infringement lawsuit that Apple has brought against HTC, the maker of the Nexus One 'googlephone'. It is widely seen as an attempt to hamstring Google's efforts to break into the smartphone market, since it runs the company's mobile operating system, Android. (The iPhone runs an operating system called, naturally, iPhone OS.)

Other incidents seen as evidence of a feud include rumours that Apple is to ditch Google as the default search engine on its iPhone in favour of Microsoft's Bing and Apple CEO Steve Jobs's reported rant last month in which he is alleged to have claimed Google "wants to kill the iPhone".

If it's war, then the protagonists are taking up their positions. Web guru Tim Bray, who has just joined Google as a 'Developer Advocate' working on Android, wrote a blog entry, cleared by Google, in which he praised Apple's "great" software and hardware, but criticised its litigious approach:

"The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet's future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It's a sterile Disneyfied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord's pleasure and fear his anger. I hate it."

He is a particular fan of the free, open source nature of Android, and the fact anyone can build software or hardware around it without Google's permission.

The idea of Apple - once a kooky also-ran in computer hardware - as the litigious corporate ogre is only strengthened by last week's endorsement of its patent lawsuit against HTC by none other than Microsoft.

Brad Smith, Microsoft's senior vice president, told a conference of copyright lawyers: "The fact that there's litigation in this area is not necessarily a bad thing." He went on to tell the Seattle Times that Microsoft has "always worked closely" with Apple lawyers.

So far, Google CEO Schmidt has risen above the feud - despite Jobs's alleged barbs. A statement he released to the New York Times read: "I continue to believe, as many do, that Steve Jobs is the best CEO in the world today, and I admire Apple and Steve enormously."

How long the protestations of love can continue if, for instance, Google gives HTC a hand in its lawsuit, or if Apple makes Bing its default search engine, is anyone's guess. But then denial has always been a necessary stage in the process of falling out. ·