In Apple's opinion, Microsoft has become
the lesser of two evils when compared with Google. One indication
of this is that Apple is seriously considering giving Microsoft's Bing
search engine top spot for search on the iPhone, a spot Google search
has held since the iPhone first shipped in the summer of 2007.
The question is: What does Google have that makes it more evil than
Microsoft in Apple's eyes?
Apple and Microsoft: BFF
First, I'd like to point out that Microsoft and Apple have long been working
partners. Applesoft BASIC on
the Apple II+ (and later) was licensed from Microsoft. Microsoft Word
and MultiPlan
(Excel's predecessor) were two of the earliest Mac apps.
Microsoft Office for Mac is such an important business tool that
Apple wants to keep in place. Apple went so far as to agree (in August
1997) to make Internet Explorer the default browser on every new Mac
sold, displacing Netscape. Microsoft only dropped support for the Mac
version of IE after Apple launched Safari and made
it the default Mac browser with the release of Mac OS X 10.3 in October
2003.
Apple largely sticks by its friends until they disappoint it, as we
learned when Apple announced that it would abandon IBM,
Motorola Freescale,
and PowerPC in favor of Intel in 2005.
Google Is Selfish
Google, on the other hand, is mostly about itself. It reminds
me of pure marketing snake oil salesmen who will give away free stuff
as long as you
give up your privacy concerns and let them exploit all the ways to
send you ads. If the federal government tracked everything we did on a
computer, everyone would worry about Big Brother looking over our
shoulders, but if it's Google, then it's okay?
Consumers get million dollars worth of free stuff, and Google gets
to make billions in advertising. That's just good business, even if
your privacy gets thrown out in the process.
Don't get me wrong: If Apple and Google had a reasonable profit
sharing plan for dividing up the Internet, the two companies would be
thick as thieves. However, Apple's plan for world domination has been
on a collision course with Google's since the iPhone gained apps in
July 2008.
Apple vs. Android
HTC is the company (I won't say little company, since its
market cap is $7 billion) that got caught in the crossfire. HTC crossed
Steve Jobs' second commandment: Thou shalt not makes phones in the
image of the iPhone. This is a really important rule that Apple
wants to see everyone follow. This is not about Jobs' ego or the need
for revenge. The iPhone is just so profitable that the business choice
has to be to protect the goose that lays the golden eggs.
The attack
on HTC (also see Apple vs.
HTC Will Delay iPad Competitors) may drive phone developers to
Microsoft and the Window 7 Mobile mess, but Apple now sees Microsoft as
less of a threat than Google's Android
platform.
Yes, the blogosphere is full of praise for Win 7 Mobile, but this is
Microsoft we are talking about - even its best stuff is full of flaws
and security problems. Once it goes beyond demoware and people actually
use it, complaints will surface.
Google, on the other hand, is able to give people
free beta software for years, and no one complains because the
price is great. Free crap software from Google is a bigger threat to
Apple than crap software from Microsoft.
At least in the case of the iPhone OS, Apple prefers Microsoft with
its for-profit business model as its primary competitor vs. Google's
"free as in beer but will make a killing on ads" model.
The key here is time. In time we will see how Apple responds to the
"free as in beer" threat - when or if
Apple starts selling advertising itself. Apple's current goal is to
gain the time needed to prepare a stronger defense - and a new
multibillion dollar revenue stream in the process.
