Apple and Google fall out over mobile internet

Technology companies Apple and Google have gone from bosom buddies to sworn enemies in the space of six months. And in a world of shifting alliances it appears that Apple now sees Google as the new Microsoft – only even more of a threat.
 
Last week, following his triumphal announcement of the new tablet computer, the iPad, Apple CEO Steve Jobs held a meeting with his employees, in which he embarked on a spectacular rant against Google. Jobs, according to an anonymous employee quoted by Wired, said: "We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won't let them."

Someone then tried to ask another question, but Jobs was in full flow: "I want to go back to that other question first and say one more thing. This 'don't be evil' mantra: it's bullshit." Jobs was referring to Google's unofficial motto, which the company has played on since its run-in with China's censors last month.

The exact wording of Jobs's rant has been hotly disputed on Apple fan-sites, but the meaning is indisputable: it is a heartfelt denunciation of a former ally.  

Google CEO Eric Schmidt was on the board of Apple for three years and the cosiness of their relationship was such that they had a pact not to poach each other's employees.

But in 2007, Google released Android, a mobile phone operating system. As the smartphones running Android OS were competing with Apple's iPhone, which, unsurprisingly, runs on the iPhone OS, this was seen by many as a hostile action.

The final straw appears to have been the July 2009 announcement of Google's Chrome OS, a web-based operating system meant for netbooks – which will run a host of applications, 'apps', when it goes on general release this year. Apps, you may remember, are an integral part of the iPhone offering.

Schmidt resigned from the board of Apple a month later. At the time, Chrome OS was seen as primarily an attack on Microsoft and its Windows OS. But in the wake of last week's iPad launch – essentially a fancy netbook – it seems Apple was rather concerned about Chrome, too.

At the time of Scmidt's departure, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said: "Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple's core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric's effectiveness as an Apple board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest."

Since then Google has rubbed salt in the wounds by releasing its own smartphone, the Nexus One. Although it is manufactured by HTC, the handset is Google-branded and sold by the search giant on its own website.

It is an indication of how much relations have deteriorated, then, that Apple may be in negotiations with Microsoft. Rumours abound that Apple is considering replacing Google as the default search engine for the iPhone web browser with Microsoft's Bing.

Perhaps as interesting as the struggle between Apple and Google is the suggestion that this is yet more evidence of the slow but steady fall from grace of Microsoft, once the giant of the technology world.

No longer is it the common enemy against which Apple and Google allied themselves. Instead, Apple is using Microsoft as a tool to flick sand in the face of the new giant, Google. ·