Det fede ved at være i IT branchen er alle de syrede mennesker man kan løbe ind i. På mange måder er der lidt celebrity over nogel af de helt store høvdinger såsom Bill Gates, Larry Ellison osv. Derfor er det også ren papparazzi guf, når New York Times har en artikel om hvordan Apple og Google er ved at blive uvenner. Dette uvenskab har enda et lille personligt twist, da Steve Jobs og Eric Schmidt åbenbart er personlige venner… eller rettere, de var personlige venner.
I takt med at iPhone og Android støder på hinanden ude i markedet ser det ud som om Steve Jobs bliver mere og mere knotten over at der er nogen der laver et produkt, der minder om hans eget. Det er som denne historie er set før.
Gad vide om Apple snart køber Yahoo! for at konkurrer med Google på search? Det ville da være helt perfekt med en god gammeldags slåskamp, som ikke involverer Microsoft for en gangs skyld.
Apple’s Spat With Google Is Getting Personal
IT looked like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Three years ago, Eric E. Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, jogged onto a San Francisco stage to shake hands with Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, to help him unveil a transformational wonder gadget — the iPhone — before throngs of journalists and adoring fans at the annual MacWorld Expo.
Google and Apple had worked together to bring Google’s search and mapping services to the iPhone, the executives told the audience, and Mr. Schmidt joked that the collaboration was so close that the two men should simply merge their companies and call them “AppleGoo.”
“Steve, my congratulations to you,” Mr. Schmidt told his corporate ally. “This product is going to be hot.” Mr. Jobs acknowledged the compliment with an ear-to-ear smile.
Today, such warmth is in short supply. Mr. Jobs, Mr. Schmidt and their companies are now engaged in a gritty battle royale over the future and shape of mobile computing and cellphones, with implications that are reverberating across the digital landscape.
In the last six months, Apple and Google have jousted over acquisitions, patents, directors, advisers and iPhone applications. Mr. Jobs and Mr. Schmidt have taken shots at each other’s companies in the media and in private exchanges with employees.
Kilde: Brad Stone & Manuel Helft @ New York Times