Mon 18th of January, filed under Mobile Marketing
An Apple search engine?
Apple could shake up search by launching a rival to Google, according to an analyst in the latest cover story of Bloomberg Business Week.
Tensions between the Silicon Valley giants have hit a new high following the launch of the Nexus One – Google's answer to the iPhone. Meanwhile, Chrome has gone head to head with Safari in the browser market and both companies are preparing to launch tablets later this year.
This competition is a world away from 2006 when Apple CEO Steve Jobs invited his Google counterpart Eric Schmidt to sit on the Apple board. Mr Schmidt stepped down last August, with Mr Jobs specifically citing Chrome and the Android mobile operating system as "potential conflicts of interest".
Google could be dropped on iPhone
According to Jonathan Yarmis, research fellow with the consultancy Ovum, Apple could escalate the rivalry still further by dropping Google as its default search engine on devices such as the iPhone. This would prevent Google from gaining access to data that could be used to improve its own mobile ad platform. And it could pave the way for Apple to monetise the information it holds on iPhone users including their banking details, location, apps, music and podcasts.
"I fully expect [Apple] to do something in search," he said. "If there's all these advertising dollars to be won, why would it want Google on its phones?"
The Nexus One is Google's first mobile. However, the company's Android mobile operating system has been powering phones from the likes of Nokia and Motorola for more than a year. Google claims that Android is now used by 20 devices in 48 countries worldwide.
Posted by Richard Frost
