Update August 3, 2009: Eric Schmidt has resigned from the Apple Board
Original Report – May 5, 2009
Both Google and Apple are banking strongly on Mobile devices and services. The former with its mobile offerings and Android while the later with the iPhone / iPod Touch & App Store.
However, the close relation between Apple and Google is being investigated for anti-trust violations by the Federal Trade Commission. The problem arises from the fact that Google CEO Eric Schmidt is also on the board of Apple. Arthur Levinson (former chief executive of Genentech) is another board member shared by the two companies. Thus, raising concerns that both companies though rival in the mobile market (iPhone vs Android) are working together to reduce competition. Rumors in the past also suggested that Google avoided multitouch on Android on Apple’s advice.
Ever since, the iPhone launched, we saw a close connection between Google and Apple. Firstly Google services like YouTube and Maps are integrated in the Apple iPhone / iPhone 3G & iPod Touch. Add to that Googles extra love for the iPhone and even reports that the Google official App was allowed to bend AppStore rules.
Almost all Google web services have been specifically optimized for the iPhone. Including adsense, reader, gmail, Earth, search, image search, docs, latitude, product search, task manager and more.
To be fair the web experience on the iPhone is miles ahead of the competition and makes real sense for Google to optimize its services for the 21 million iPhone users and 17 million iPod Touch owners. Let’s see how this case develops.