Share

Over the last week, many news sources have picked up on the rumored amount Google is sending Apple each year for the lone spot as the iPhone search provider. Over $100 Million a year seems to be the going rate for that privilege, but people are beginning to question that partnership, some even suggesting that Apple is working on a deal with Microsoft’s new service, Bing.

Google recently rebuked those claims by stating that their relationship with Apple is a valuable partnership. Vic Gundotra, Google’s head of mobile engineering, believes they have no reason to assume the current partnership will end any time soon. No reason? How about the fact that Google built a mobile phone OS that competes with the iPhone? Maybe the Chrome browser and OS they’re working on would also complicate the relationship? What about Apple’s recent purchase of ad firm Quattro Wireless? Still no? Then what about Apple’s purchase of Placebase… a Google Maps competitor?

As things progress, Google and Apple are beginning to butt heads… often. The two companies appear to be tackling milestones from opposite ends of the spectrum: Apple started with hardware and their OS, Google started with search, and both are going mobile. Some analysts have predicted that Apple is working on a new search engine to compete with Google. Really? An over-saturated market with a clear winner… yeah, that’s a good investment.

This deal doesn’t seem very secure based on the dollar amount. In fact, the Apple-Google partnership gets worse with every new deal. The first iPhone maps deal took approximately 2 weeks… when Apple added GPS, that deal took 6 months and was a riveting tale of back-and-forth. It wouldn’t surprise us if Apple moved elsewhere for search just to speed along the political process.

Source

It looks like TUAW shares our good taste in pictures. :)