14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like Google Now for iOS is turning into yet another Google – Apple saga, or rather another of the "he said, she said" spectacles unfortunately typical in the tech world. Google's Eric Schmidt hinted that Google Now for iOS is ready and that its arrival is dependent solely on Apple.
This seemed to indicate that Google had submitted the Google Now app, or more likely the updated Google Search app for approval, and that all that was left now was for Apple to allow it into the App Store. We do know that Google Now for iOS is in the works at least, from a leaked ad.
But Apple has now said that there's no Google Now app in the approval process right now. That would seem that at least one of them is lying.
But it is possible for both to be telling the truth. On the one hand, Schmidt never actually said Google submitted an app.
When asked about the Google Now for iOS app, he answered "you'll need to discuss that with Apple. Apple has a policy of approving or disapproving apps in its store. Some of the apps we make they approve and some of them they don't."
That could be read as saying that it was all now in Apple's hands, but also that, when Google submits the app, Apple will be the one deciding when and if the app surfaces in the App Store.
Also keep in mind that Schmidt has been consistently wrong in many of his predictions and allegations.
Still, there is a history of this, the Google Voice app spent many, many months in limbo. More recently, Google was worried that the new Maps app would not be approved.
Apple did allow the Maps app in the App Store and it became one of the most popular there. And it's very likely that it will allow the Now app as well.
But there is a possibility that it won't. Likewise, Google would love nothing more than to perpetuate the impression that Apple rules its App Store with a dictatorial fervor, which it does, unlike the "open" Google Play Store for Android. The same Play store which recently booted AdBlock Plus and other ad blocking apps.