On TechCrunch this morning in a story following Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt’s travels through Asia, writer Darrell Etherington noted that Schmidt is quietly but firmly stating Google’s position with respect to patents, partners, and Apple.
Google has trodden lightly on this territory, even though arguably it lies at the heart of Google’s mission and immediate prospects. But there was Schmidt in Korea, going on record that Apple remains “a very good partner,” even as Apple eviscerates Google’s presence on iOS platforms.
The removal of Google Maps from iOS 6, the recent update to Apple’s high-mobility operating system, has made all the headlines, mainly due to the poor replacement that Apple has swapped in from its own larder. But there’s skirmishing on other fronts as well: Apple seems to be fiddling around with the YouTube app.
Like sumo wrestlers, Apple and Google, which once contributed to each other’s success, now circle one another warily, seeking a winning grip. As is often the case with a partnership gone wrong, each party seeks to regrow the functionality that the other used to provide. In Google’s case, that means making its own operating software (Android) and hardware (courtesy of Motorola). In Apple’s, it means creating applications, starting with a key one, maps, and extending potentially to others. In the long run, it may also mean search, or at least changing the way people find information (e.g., recommendation instead of search). For example, Siri could become the front end to important databases such as Yelp and OpenTable, bypassing search entirely.
The business with YouTube is a bit mysterious. If Apple wanted to remove the video application totally, it certainly could. Perhaps it doesn’t have a substitute ready. Perhaps it is just messing with Google’s head. In any event, other Google apps are still available on iTunes: Google Earth, Gmail, Google +, Chrome, Google Translate, and so on, all free, of course.
But there’s a huge difference between being available and being in the pole position.
The key to a maps app is that it’s wired to the live links in other apps, which can call the maps function directly. You know what I’m talking about. It goes like this: An address in an invitation is lit up. One touch, and the map rotates up. Another touch or two, and you’ve got driving directions from wherever you are.
So, standing around down in the gallery with all the other apps, jumping up and down and shouting, “Pick me! Pick me!” is useless for a map app. There’s only place to be: where the address calls the map. And Apple’s not about to give that up.
Microsoft, in its settlement with the European Commission in 2009, agreed to put up a “choice screen” that European users would encounter before a browser was selected to run on Windows. While this solution may have satisfied Opera, the Norwegian software firm that created the only widely used native European browser, it was actually a lousy deal for end users, who were required to make a potentially baffling choice before doing any work on their new system.
Microsoft knew that the choice screen was a terrible idea, but it had been found to be a monopoly in various jurisdictions, and a government body forced it to offer the screen as a workaround. The best user experience occurs when all components are fully integrated. From a purely technical point of view (security, performance, user experience, maintainability), Internet Explorer should be nailed right onto Windows with no seams.
A choice screen is exactly the kind of thing that goes against everything that Apple stands for. It’s confusing, and it’s a bad experience. And Apple has yet to be found a monopoly and is under no constraint to offer one.
So, the deathblow has already been delivered. Once Google Maps was removed from the pole position, it might as well be in Ouagadougou.
And what is a poor user to do? In my case, I’ve refused the upgrade. I’m sticking with iOS 5 for now, pointedly ignoring the come-on in settings that tells me I have an upgrade waiting. I’m sure Apple will find some way to kill that option. But for now, Google Maps is working nicely, just as it always has.
Does Apple care that its naked self interest is showing? Not at all, near as I can tell. Apple has always had disdain for what others think, even no, especially customers.
However, for a potential customer on the cusp of deciding whether to buy an Apple or an Android phone, this blatantly dishonorable move to take away from consumers something that they liked and put in its place a home-grown but inferior substitute is likely to push them definitively into the Google camp.
Google has trodden lightly on this territory, even though arguably it lies at the heart of Google’s mission and immediate prospects. But there was Schmidt in Korea, going on record that Apple remains “a very good partner,” even as Apple eviscerates Google’s presence on iOS platforms.
The removal of Google Maps from iOS 6, the recent update to Apple’s high-mobility operating system, has made all the headlines, mainly due to the poor replacement that Apple has swapped in from its own larder. But there’s skirmishing on other fronts as well: Apple seems to be fiddling around with the YouTube app.
Like sumo wrestlers, Apple and Google, which once contributed to each other’s success, now circle one another warily, seeking a winning grip. As is often the case with a partnership gone wrong, each party seeks to regrow the functionality that the other used to provide. In Google’s case, that means making its own operating software (Android) and hardware (courtesy of Motorola). In Apple’s, it means creating applications, starting with a key one, maps, and extending potentially to others. In the long run, it may also mean search, or at least changing the way people find information (e.g., recommendation instead of search). For example, Siri could become the front end to important databases such as Yelp and OpenTable, bypassing search entirely.
The business with YouTube is a bit mysterious. If Apple wanted to remove the video application totally, it certainly could. Perhaps it doesn’t have a substitute ready. Perhaps it is just messing with Google’s head. In any event, other Google apps are still available on iTunes: Google Earth, Gmail, Google +, Chrome, Google Translate, and so on, all free, of course.
But there’s a huge difference between being available and being in the pole position.
The key to a maps app is that it’s wired to the live links in other apps, which can call the maps function directly. You know what I’m talking about. It goes like this: An address in an invitation is lit up. One touch, and the map rotates up. Another touch or two, and you’ve got driving directions from wherever you are.
So, standing around down in the gallery with all the other apps, jumping up and down and shouting, “Pick me! Pick me!” is useless for a map app. There’s only place to be: where the address calls the map. And Apple’s not about to give that up.
Microsoft, in its settlement with the European Commission in 2009, agreed to put up a “choice screen” that European users would encounter before a browser was selected to run on Windows. While this solution may have satisfied Opera, the Norwegian software firm that created the only widely used native European browser, it was actually a lousy deal for end users, who were required to make a potentially baffling choice before doing any work on their new system.
Microsoft knew that the choice screen was a terrible idea, but it had been found to be a monopoly in various jurisdictions, and a government body forced it to offer the screen as a workaround. The best user experience occurs when all components are fully integrated. From a purely technical point of view (security, performance, user experience, maintainability), Internet Explorer should be nailed right onto Windows with no seams.
A choice screen is exactly the kind of thing that goes against everything that Apple stands for. It’s confusing, and it’s a bad experience. And Apple has yet to be found a monopoly and is under no constraint to offer one.
So, the deathblow has already been delivered. Once Google Maps was removed from the pole position, it might as well be in Ouagadougou.
And what is a poor user to do? In my case, I’ve refused the upgrade. I’m sticking with iOS 5 for now, pointedly ignoring the come-on in settings that tells me I have an upgrade waiting. I’m sure Apple will find some way to kill that option. But for now, Google Maps is working nicely, just as it always has.
Does Apple care that its naked self interest is showing? Not at all, near as I can tell. Apple has always had disdain for what others think, even no, especially customers.
However, for a potential customer on the cusp of deciding whether to buy an Apple or an Android phone, this blatantly dishonorable move to take away from consumers something that they liked and put in its place a home-grown but inferior substitute is likely to push them definitively into the Google camp.
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