14 DAY TRIAL // A VentureBeat report claims to have had a chat with one Android team member who allegedly told the site that Google accepted Apple's request not to implement Multi-Touch in the software.
Apple is known to be responsible for the signature multi-touch iPhone. The Multi-Touch technology is also patented by Apple. The above-mentioned source reveals that “apparently, [Apple] asked Google not to implement it, and Google agreed,” according to an Android team member. In fact, the report continues, the Android team member expressed his most sincere thoughts on the move, declaring he and his colleagues were actually “relieved that Google didn’t go against Apple’s wishes, given the legal storm that appears to be brewing between Apple and Palm, which is using multi-touch technology in its new Pre phone.”
“Even if Apple ultimately decides not to pursue legal action against Palm, the situation has likely soured the relationship between the two companies. Google, it seems, wants no part in ruining its relationship with Apple,” the analysis goes.
More reasons to believe Google indeed accepted Apple's request to leave Multi-Touch alone comes from the search giant's efforts aimed at the iPhone platform, with Google Sync, Google Earth and Google Voice. Add to the equation that Google's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, is also on Apple’s board of directors, while both Apple and Google compete with Microsoft, and the story suddenly makes a lot of sense.
However, as the source points out, there are going to be numerous Android-based platforms coming out this year, and in the years to follow. Multi-Touch, as you may have gathered, seems pretty much “the” recipe for an intuitive control system on touch-screen devices with a big display, something both the iPhone and the G1 have. The reasoning here is that, one day, Google will have to have another chat with Apple over Multi-Touch. For now, Google seems to be awfully compliant with Apple's wishes.