Apple and Google Don’t Like Each Other
Okay, so it’s not exactly a revelation that there’s bad blood between Apple and Google. Steve Jobs once (in)famously threatened to "go thermonuclear" against Google for launching Android, which he viewed as "grand theft" of Apple’s iPhone.
Apple has since sued Samsung Electronics, Google’s primary Android vendor, alleging design and technology patent infringement. Samsung has countersued.
Outside of the courts, Apple is looking to gain any edge it can against Google. A case in point is the decision to no longer include an app for Google’s YouTube, part of the iPhone since its launch in 2007, in Apple’s next iOS release. While users will still be able to see YouTube through Safari, this move along with Apple’s previous decision to not include Google Maps, is a clear indication that the rift between the two companies is not likely to be repaired.
"Their two ecosystems are pulling away from each other," Carl Howe, an analyst at Yankee Group, told Bloomberg News. "This is two companies agreeing they just don’t want to work together anymore."
Analysts seem to be in agreement that Apple’s decision will not have a material effect on Google’s financial ledger in the near term.
ThinkEquity analyst Ronald Josey, however, said that Apple’s recent moves suggest more competitively significant steps in the future.
"The writing’s on the wall that when search is up for renewal, there’s a significant chance that Google may not be the default," Mr. Josey told Reuters.
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions: What does the Apple/Google battle mean for the future of mobile marketing? What will this mean for retailers selling mobile devices manufactured by these companies and others?
The writing is on the wall indeed. And here is what is says: Apple has started its long journey towards decline and, eventually, irrelevance. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the iPad and am truly thankful to Apple for bringing it to market. But making a product slightly thinner or increasing its screen resolution does not constitute “true innovation.” iOS hasn’t materially changed in 5 years and Apple does not seem able or willing to innovate further. Their once “revolutionary” OS now feels stale and lacks features found in Android and Windows 8. To make matters worse, their “walled garden” approach has turned off software developers and hardware vendors. Of course, they are not going to ride into the sunset quietly (and in a sense they shouldn’t since they essentially invented the modern tablet form factor). Now comes litigation and dirty tricks. Unfortunately, in the long run, removing YouTube will damage Apple more than it will damage Google.
This is much ado about nothing. Apple and Google have been competitive for years. Apple believes in a walled garden approach to its users, while Google is open source. The YouTube app on Apple devices had not been updated in years. It did not produce significant traffic for Google. Apple’s new mapping app should be better than Google’s similar offering.
The only interesting area to watch will be search. In spite of spending hundreds of millions of dollars, Microsoft has not been able to significantly move the needle with Bing. Consumers still equate Google with search. If Apple cuts Google as its default search engine, which consumers can reset should they choose, it will hurt Google. But, at the same time, it also could hurt Apple.
Over the years, we have seen tech companies go to war with each other, only to quickly make peace and find ways to work together. This was done through mutual need. Apple and Google, as much as they may fight, need each other. There may be skirmishes, but I doubt war will be declared.
The temptation to use exclusivity as a competitive weapon in electronics is a siren song of the first order. Ask Sony how that BetaMax thing worked out for them. Apple is as close to a cult following as consumer products come. But open formats usually win the day in the long run. Bad move.
The battle means that systems and requirements making it possible to use apps or tools across devices will continue to diverge making it necessary for consumers to have different devices for different applications. Given the number of people accessing YouTube, removing it from Apple apps is a move that will frustrate consumers if the use YouTube through the app rather than through Safari.
There is still a gigantic x-factor out there called m-commerce that will truly determine dominance in the mobile computing field.
Right now, there is no serious efforts of m-commerce initiatives or framework to build effective m-commerce solutions on both platforms. The first one to give the consumer better tools for m-commerce will be the deciding factor.
Let’s be frank about this: Apple, Google and Microsoft are all three engaged in a battle over mobile platform dominance, to the detriment of their collective customer base. It’s not helping that the mobile phone carriers play their own games of trying to keep customers captive while choking off some functionality.
From the user perspective, competing standards sucks. It has become harder to sync devices since the heyday of the Palm OS, not easier. Yes, social media integration is nice, but for business users with larger contact lists, it makes life more complex.
We were taught in Econ101 that business competition is supposed to deliver greater quality and value for the consumer. But within the mobile oligopoly, the rivalry seems to be leading to a proliferation of features along with a hold-back of some desirable function.
I have an inkling that handset and tablet devices are destined to get dumber and simpler while our personal data and commerce functionality are moved increasingly into the cloud. Watch out Apple and Google — you may be tussling over a market that is already heading for obsolescence.
Mobile device of the future: a secure universal transaction card, with a web-enabled display. No apps needed.
Ed Dunn’s comment on m-commerce is I believe, the key. I wouldn’t predict the winner between Apple and Google. But mobile payment is likely to be the winning card in global retailing, with Apple having the upper hand — not yet fully played. Apple has direct commercial connections, inside their “walled garden” with more citizens of earth, than any other player — except maybe Amazon.
But Amazon has not yet announced their own efforts for the mobile wallet — sure to come, in my opinion.
Two other points: Apple, late in the day, made peace with Microsoft, which led to substantial acceleration of the Mac. Secondly, Jobs famous “reality distortion field,” the determination to ignore the facts, and force reality to conform to his own thoughts, is probably seriously attenuated at Apple today — given Steve’s proven failure in conquering his cancer. However, a residual dollop of that property could be a winning wild-card for Apple!
“It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.“
The issue here is what the customer will say. Apple has an effective map program of its own so getting rid of Google Maps doesn’t necessarily hurt. But YouTube is important to many iPhone users and so making it more difficult to access is likely to hurt Apple more than Google in the eyes of iPhone users.
As to mobile marketing the battle will continue to continue. The market will decide the winners and losers.