14 DAY TRIAL // The rivalry between Apple and Google has been in question before. The New York Times has recently developed a four-page report on this wayward relationship between the two corporations. The relations between the two companies began to turn sour when the Android mobile operating system was first introduced. Afterwards, a series of heated meetings between Apple and Google executives took place, the AppleInsider notes. Jobs was quoted by The New York Times as saying, "We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake; Google wants to kill the iPhone. We won't let them," and this seems to be the main reason of argument in the rivalry between the two multinational companies. Apple’s head, Steve Jobs, believes that Google has "violated the alliance" it had with Apple, when it began to produce cellphones that mimicked the iPhone.
This quarrel seems to be "unusually emotional," maybe because of the fact that the Google founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, were admiring Jobs and even considered him a mentor. They used to pay regular visits to the company’s Cupertino, California campus. However, regarding the relationship between Jobs and the Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, things had been different from the very beginning.
Apple launched a suit against HTC on 20 Apple patents related to the headset’s user interface including architecture and hardware details. AppleInsider stresses upon the fact that this lawsuit is thought to be a rather indirect attack at Android, Google’s mobile operating system.
The two companies have also argued over acquiring the same companies, as the Times report shows. Google reportedly rushed in to buy AdMob after Apple had expressed significant interest in it. Google paid a 25% premium over Apple's initial offer primarily to keep AdMob out of the latter’s hands. Thereby, Jobs responded by acquiring competing mobile ad firm Quattro Wireless, the report further relates.
The report also notes the possibility, mentioned in a piece of news on Softpedia last week, that Apple could join hands with Microsoft to make Bing the default search engine and map provider for the iPhone. These rumors, however, haven’t been officially confirmed.
The same source notes that a complaint received from camera-maker Kodak is under the U.S. Commission’s investigation. The multinational photographic materials and equipment producer has accused Apple of infringing on patents related to the previewing of images and processing them at different resolutions. Kodak believes Apple's iPhone violates those inventions.