You may think that Google has some beefs with the Apple iPhone because it wants Android to rule the world. But if you ask Google’s Asia-Pacific president Daniel Alegre, the iPhone is more of an ally than an enemy.
“Whenever iPhone succeeds, Google succeeds,” Alegre told AdNews. “I actually don’t look at it as iPhone versus Android. iPhone is a very strong driver of query growth for Google. We also monetize apps through the iPhone … we actually benefit from iPhone’s growth.”
This does make a lot of sense, as the Apple iPhone is preloaded with Google search and Google maps and iOS users still generally use more data than other platforms, although that may be changing with Android. Google apps also get some good traction on the iPhone even if they’re not preloaded.
We’re hearing some rumblings that the animosity between Apple and Google is growing, particularly from Apple’s side. Apple doesn’t necessarily benefit from the success of Google the same way the search giant does from the iPhone. That may be why we hear rumors that Steve Jobs hid the iPad from Eric Schmidt when the Google executive was on Apple’s board.
There’s a chance that Apple could up-end the search giant by including its own services or partnering with rivals. Microsoft Bing is now available on the iPhone and turning it to the default search would instantly increase Bing’s mobile share.
Of course, Google Maps is a stellar way to find things around you and to navigate around but Apple did purchase the mapping company Poly9 last year and it’s not impossible for it to roll out some sort of specialized mapping service on the iOS devices. I still don’t think it has the experiences or resources to make this as functional as the latest version of Google Maps but I could see Apple trying.
[Via AdNews]