There was a lot of talk last week that Apple and Google are working together on an app that will reduce the spread of coronavirus infection. This is not such a unique case in history when two major competitors have joined forces to achieve some common big goal. Even in the savannah, there are truces where a lion and an antelope drink side by side from the same body of water. In the history Apple and Google there were many other facts when they helped or interfered with each other. Let's remember them. There are some really interesting ones among them.
These companies can both cooperate and compete.
- App Apple and Google to fight coronavirus
- History of interaction and rivalry Apple and Google
- 2005: Steve Jobs and Google
- 2008: the first smartphone on Android and the wrath of Steve Jobs
- 2012: Apple builds relationships with Google
- 2013: Siri vs. Google Assistant
- 2014: Tim Cook became like Steve Jobs
- 2019: Google starts teasing iPhone X
- 2019: Apple partners with Google again
- What to expect from Apple and Google
App Apple and Google to fight coronavirus
If you missed one of the main news of the past week, I will briefly remind you.
The companies decided to create an application that would run on Bluetooth Low Energy technology. This technology allows the smartphone to beep for a long time even after the battery is completely discharged. For example, it is used to find a missing person iPhone. If it is stolen or you lost it, then even in the off state, the smartphone beeps and the gadgets of people passing by can send it to the server Apple. If the owner has already marked the device as lost, he can find it.
Based on this technology, contacts of people will be recorded, and then compared with those who have found COVID-19. If there was contact and risk of infection, you will be prompted to be tested. In general, everything is simple, now competing devices will work together. It is very interesting.
History of interaction and rivalry Apple and Google
In fact, in big business, as in politics, not everything is so simple. Now we are talking about companies that are close to politics, and their very scale allows us to call their actions politics. Therefore, they are even more ambiguous. You can be competitors, but help each other if it's profitable.
This, for example, is the case with Apple with Samsung, which endlessly sue, but still actively work together. At some point, such a fragile partnership can break down. And here are some examples …
2005: Steve Jobs and Google
Many years ago Apple and Google could work together. They even banded together to ruin life Microsoft. Plus, iPhone worked very well with Google from the first versions. The YouTube app was native and other services worked very well.
Steve Jobs and Google have had a complicated relationship.
The cat ran between the companies when Steve Jobs wrote a letter to Sergey Brin. In the letter, he complained that Google was trying to hire specialists who were responsible in Apple for developing the Safari browser. Of course, whoever likes that a good product is being taken away from under your nose.
As a result, this led to the fact that the companies quarreled and ceased to cooperate so actively. And Google apps have disappeared from iOS, remaining only in the App Store. Although, for some time and with this there were difficulties.
2008: the first smartphone on Android and the wrath of Steve Jobs
It was in 2008, a year after the release of the first iPhone, that HTC Dream saw the light – the first smartphone on Android. It seems to have gone out and gone, but no. Steve Jobs was very unhappy with this.
He demanded to remove from the system what he considered exclusive iOS and even had patents for it. First of all, he didn't like the use of a similar interface and the zoom gesture. Eric Schmidt, who ran Google at the time, spoke about this.
Then, however, Jobs stopped expressing so emotionally, but at the beginning he claimed that he was ready to fight until his last breath and to the last dollar in his account Apple (out of 40 billion) and prove that Android stole almost all ideas IOS in the field of interface design and management.
2012: Apple builds relationships with Google
It was impossible to convince Jobs. He was very zealous against Google and would have gladly abandoned its services and applications immediately, but was bound by contracts. As a result, when they ended, applications and services disappeared from the base firmware iOS.
Only after his death, in 2011, the more liberal Tim Cook agreed to revive cooperation with Google, but not at the level that was before.
As a result, in 2012, applications returned to their normal form, and Google became the default search engine again.
2013: Siri vs. Google Assistant
In 2013, there was more sweet and funny confrontation than fierce. The companies set up their assistants so that they tease each other.
Bryn was very fond of this gadget at one time.
For example, Siri replied that she did not flicker, because she did not know how to do it, or that iPhone you did not need to reel around your head to get an answer (alluding to Google Glass glasses). In response, Google objected that its voice assistant not only hears, but also understands its owner.
It was an interesting and ironic pun, which always gives the public much more pleasure than scandals and litigation.
2014: Tim Cook became like Steve Jobs
It was in 2014 that Tim Cook in an interview with Charlie Rose stated that Google was the main competitor for Apple. All smartphone makers are essentially just supplying hardware for the operating system that Cupertinians compete with.
These words were quite in the spirit of Steve Jobs. In the same interview, Cook added that Jobs' spirit will forever remain in the DNA of the company he created.
2019: Google starts teasing iPhone X
Google is good too and loves to play games, showing that she is like Nepalese children made by Nepalese and Nepalese. So in 2019 she ran an interesting marketing campaign. It consisted in the fact that on the walls of houses in different cities were placed posters with the image iPhone X and Google Pixel 3a. The posters listed a price of $ 999 for iPhone X and $ 399 for the Pixel 3a. It was also noted that the Pixel is better in almost all respects.
Interestingly, for advertising, Google took a smartphone, which at that time was already more than one and a half years old. Many wondered why they didn’t indicate a newer device.
The fact is that the actual one at that time iPhone was called Xs. There is a possibility that this name could not be used for direct comparison, but if you write iPhone X, everything was clear anyway.
An example of creative advertising.
2019: Apple partners with Google again
In the same year, the companies buried the ax of war and began to cooperate for the benefit of a common technological cause. So they began to work together to create a unified smart home system. To do this, they started collaborating with Amazon and Zigbee together.
The task of cooperation was the development of cross-platform gadgets for a smart home. This should have greatly simplified the work of those who design and manufacture the appropriate gadgets. Apparently, Apple decided that her HomeKit is somehow slipping and has not achieved anything in several years, and something needs to be changed.
A working group was created, which was engaged in the development. It included specialists from all the companies that were involved in the development.
What to expect from Apple and Google
I have already described the events concerning the current cooperation of the companies above. Of course, they have their own interests and they will continue to take money from each other in the market for smartphones and other devices, but sometimes you have to act smarter.
This is what companies do. They skillfully maneuver between competition and close collaboration. As a result, this gives rise to new products and services. It's always nice when giants can act like that. We keep our finger on the pulse and see what happens next.