Apple is a secretive company that keeps information out of the hands
of the media, but more importantly away from the competition. Now if
two close partners, like Samsung and Google, switch to become
competitors, your control of information happens in a leaky bucket.
How can Apple design and build the next iPhone using Samsung chips
without Samsung knowing the technology inside the processor, the exact
price, and the approximate release date of the device? Samsung is not
supposed to use that information for its own benefit, especially if
there is an NDA (non-disclosure agreements), but Apple cannot control
the situation.
If Apple threatens to take its business from Samsung, Samsung can
shrug and keep
building chips for Android phones instead.
The same is true of Google on the software side. Since Google's Map
app used to be integrated with iOS, they had to have the best
interoperability and received preferred treatment over other companies
for knowing more about the plans and directions that Apple was going to
take with iOS. Google could and did provide support and features for
their Android version
over the iOS version. Google dragging its feet could hurt Apple -
and especially Apple's reputation as an innovator - if the iOS map app
lagged behind Android.
These two companies lost incentive to provide their best support and
features to Apple. They went from friendly suppliers of hardware and
software to less cooperative suppliers and a became major risk to
Apple's competitive advantages.
Compare this to Microsoft. The Microsoft Office suite is still very
important on the Mac, but it doesn't require more insider information
than any other software developer. A new version doesn't have to be
released on the same day that Apple releases either new hardware or a
new version of Mac OS X.
If Microsoft drops support, Apple can either improve its iWork suite
to be more competitive or fund OpenOffice development.
For Microsoft, development for the Mac is profitable. Microsoft
risks creating more competition if it fails to supply a good enough
solution. It may not be a perfect friendship, but in the business world
it is strong, because it is built on mutual benefit.
It may seem harsh that Google and Samsung have been kicked out of
Apple's inner circle, but Apple does not have a choice. Samsung and
Google's friendship was too costly to Apple's future success.
Google can still write and sell apps for the iPhone. But Google is
not trustworthy enough to be given integrated status with iOS. Samsung
can continue to sell chips used in the iPhone and iPad, but it cannot
be depended on to deliver bleeding edge technology that sets Apple
apart from the competition.
The surprise isn't that Apple has had to sever relationships with
these companies. The surprise is how long it has taken for the breakup
to happen. That shows how much Apple let them into its products, and
how difficult it was to break off their agreements. If Steve Jobs
really was as angry as has been reported, these agreements should have
ended within the first year that Android was released.
