Rising feud sees Apple dump Google Maps
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E-mail Agencies via Shanghai Daily, June 13, 2012
Steve Jobs' vendetta against Google remains alive, eight months after the Apple co-founder died feeling betrayed by a company he once embraced as an ally.
Apple is escalating the feud between two of the world's most influential companies by dumping Google's mapping service as a built-in feature on most iPhones and iPads. Apple is also making it easier for users of those devices to share their lives on Facebook instead of Google's competing social network.
The snubs are part of an upgraded mobile operating system that Apple previewed on Monday to kick off its 23rd annual developers conference in San Francisco.
Google's mapping service will be replaced by an Apple-designed alternative when the new software for mobile devices, iOS 6, is released this fall. Those who want to continue using Google Maps will have to go through an additional hurdle, such as finding and installing its app.
It represents a major blow for Google Inc, which stands to lose mobile advertising revenue and valuable insights about people's whereabouts if users of the iPhone and iPad devices switch to Apple's mapping service.
Apple and Google are locked in a fight for the attention of hundreds of millions of mobile device users. The battle has been building since Google's 2008 release of its Android operating system to compete against the iPhone.
Android smartphones from companies such as Samsung Electronics Co and Google's own Motorola division are the chief alternatives to the iPhone. Apple has sued them, accusing them of ripping off the iPhone's ground-breaking features.
Android kills ties
Google's Maps application has resided on the iPhone since the device's 2007 debut. At that time, the companies were so close that Eric Schmidt, then Google's CEO, appeared on stage with Jobs to hail their kinship.
Android destroyed the relationship. Before he died in October, Jobs told his biographer, Walter Isaacson, that he viewed Android as a form of "grand theft" from Apple and declared "thermonuclear war" against his former ally.
"This is a slap in Google's face," said Tim Bajarin, a Creative Strategies analyst who got to know Jobs well during his 32 years following the company. "I don't think Apple is ever going to be able to bury Android, but this is making it clear that they aren't going to send any more ad revenue Google's way, if at all possible."
Google is scheduled to show off the latest developments in Android at a conference that will be held at the same San Francisco venue beginning June 27.
In another jab at Google, Apple also said it's building Facebook into iOS 6. That threatens to make it more difficult for Google to drive traffic to its Google Plus social network, a high priority for the company. As it is, Google has more than 170 million users while Facebook has over 900 million users.
Besides the upcoming iOS, Apple also showed off updated laptops and new features in its software for Mac computers.
Apple unveiled a laptop with a super-high resolution "Retina" display, setting a new standard for screen sharpness. The new MacBook Pro will have a 15-inch screen and four times the resolution of previous models, Apple said.
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