Dogfight

 

The Quid On:

Dogfight: How Apple and Google went to war

By Fred Vogelstein

Apple and Google are two of the biggest tech giants today. While their rivalry goes back several years, they were not always rivals. There was a time when these two tech titans even collaborated with each other. However, the unfolding of certain events resulted in one of the most gruesome corporate rivalries in history.

About the author

Fred Vogelstein is one of the leading tech reporters of the world. He is a contributing editor for the Wired magazine. His writing has appeared in Fortune magazine, the New York Times Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal.

What to expect – How the biggest tech rivalry in history shaped up

This book is a chronological account of the biggest tech rivalries of the world – Apple vs. Google. It traces the history of this rivalry from the time the first iPhone was launched, when Apple and Google actively collaborated, to the time when Google developed Android, and to the present times when iOS and Android have become the two most popular mobile operating systems.

Key insights

·       The release of the iPhone in 2007 was a monumental event in the history of technology, but the initial prototypes were far from perfect.

·       Although Google was helping Android with the iPhone, they were also developing their own mobile operating system.

·       The iPhone was a huge success, selling millions of units.

·       When Google made an announcement about the Android project to the world, Apple felt betrayed. In Jobs’ opinion, Android was a copy of the iPhone.

·       The success of Android phones, such as the Droid and The Nexus, meant that Apple and Google were locked in confrontation.

·       By 2010, while Android phones had gained massive popularity, Apple was beset with a host of problems.

·       The launch of the iPad – a tablet – was a huge move for Apple. The device was well received and sold millions of units.

·       There were several legal battles between Apple and manufacturers of Android phones, most famously that between Apple and Samsung, which Apple eventually won.

·       Both phones and Android phones, while competing with each other, have changed the world altogether.

 

 

The launch of the iPhone

When the iPhone was first launched in a demonstration by Steve Jobs at Macworld 2007, it was a barely functional prototype. It was ridden with bugs and problems and looked unfinished. It had a really small RAM, making multitasking difficult. Cell reception was an issue. It was so bad that most Apple engineers didn’t expect Jobs to finish the demo without a total crash. Even the general public was not allowed to touch or use the iPhone then.

Initially, Jobs didn’t even want to make a mobile phone. Back then, network companies like AT&T and Verizon were very influential in how tech companies designed their phones. The network companies were responsible for marketing and subsidizing the phones, and without their assistance, it was impossible to launch one. Jobs didn’t want any of this interference.

The first phone which involved Apple was not the iPhone, but Rokr – a collaboration between Apple and Motorola. The phone was not a success, however, and with the success of the iPod, Apple decided to make its own mobile phone. It was in 2004 that a new project was started by Apple to develop a brand new and revolutionary mobile phone – the iPhone.

The development of the phone brought several challenges. For one, they had to write software specifically for the iPhone, since it had a much weaker processor and way less RAM compared to the Mac. Also, Jobs wanted utter secrecy regarding the project. He refused to involve anyone outside Apple, and only those who were working for the project knew about it. Finally, however, the demonstration went perfectly.

The development of Android

While Apple was busy making the iPhone, Google was also developing its own mobile phone. Just like the iPhone, it too was a secret project and was planned to be unveiled by the end of 2007. However, the launch of the iPhone earlier that year was a sudden development for Google. They realized that the iPhone was much better than what they were designing, and they knew that they had to start over.

There was one thing going for Google – their software was vastly superior to the iPhone’s. Moreover, their software could run on any phone, while the iOS (Apple’s OS) could only work on their own phones. Back then, the mobile software environment was in disarray, with each phone manufacturer running their own software on their phones. Most of them were barely functional, and not very good. On the other hand, Android – which was purchased by Google in 2005 – was vastly superior. It was mostly open source.

Google aimed to keep Android open source, to help it spread fast. App developers were likely to write software for Android, and Google would get revenues from advertising.

Although a team at Google was developing the Android, another team was involved in close cooperation with Apple for bringing Google’s products in the iPhone, particularly their search engine and Google Maps. Having two teams work seemingly against each other was nothing new to Google. However, for Rubin, the head of Android, this was a conflict of interest. He thought, why should Google even continue to work on developing Android if the iPhone was already launched?

iPhone hits the store

Given the shabby state of the iPhone prototype during its launch, it was remarkable that Steve Jobs’ demo went so flawlessly. However, the problems were not over for Apple. In a few weeks, the iPhone was about to hit the stores, and it would have to be finished by then. The challenge for Apple was huge. The multi-touch screen was, an issue since initially, it was quite inaccurate. The lack of a physical keyboard was derided by many outsiders. The wireless radio also needed to be perfected, for it to be accepted on AT&T’s network.

Ultimately, it fell to Borchers to manage these issues. Being the head of product marketing of iPhone, his job was to explain all its features in laymen terms. To get the iPhone ready on time, Jobs pitted Forstall and Fadell against each other to see who developed a better phone. This feud was ugly, gruesome and very lengthy. Often, they would fight over the smallest matters, forcing Jobs to mediate disagreements.

The iPhone, however, did launch on time. Within two days of it going on sale, the iPhone sold 270,000 units. Within six months, it had sold 3.4 million units. Despite these impressive figures, the iPhone was far from perfect. Instead of running on 3G, it ran on the much slower 2G network. It also didn’t have GPS, or even the ability to search in the phonebook. On top of it, it was priced at a whopping $499. However, because of its cool features, consumers were willing to overlook its flaws. The most important of it was its capacitive touchscreen, which was revolutionary.

Apple feels betrayed

Although Google was collaborating with Apple, they had no plans to drop the Android project. Brin and Page were particular about the expectations they had from Android – all pages should load within 0.2 seconds, and it should be very user-friendly. At the same time, Google worked hard to get their own products on the iPhone.

Google hired Vic Gundotra, an ex-Microsoft employee, in charge of the Google iPhone team. Gundotra thought that Google’s future in mobile lay with the iPhone since the iPhone was such a revolutionary product. It was the only device then which could run Google’s products the way they ran on desktops, and it had a full Internet browser which allowed Google Ads to appear and work normally. Others at Google, however, were not so enthusiastic about the iPhone. Particularly, the Android team saw all that the iPhone could not do and thought that they could do things better.

In late 2007, Google announced the formation of the Open Handset Alliance. It was a consortium of handset makers, mobile carriers, and software developers which would together make the open-source Android. Also, it was announced that HTC would make a phone running Android OS within a year. The public reaction to this announcement was at best lukewarm. However, this announcement increased tensions between Google and Apple, and within Google as well.

After a demo showing Android to the world, public reception improved. Android seemed capable of doing lots of things which the iPhone could not. Steve Jobs was furious and felt betrayed. However, the relations between Apple and Google did not deteriorate immediately. Apple still needed Google, since Google was paying a lot of money to Apple for having its software on the iPhone. Two incidents changed this situation. Firstly, Google was negotiating the commercials hard with Apple. Secondly, they wanted more than just basic location data from iPhone users. Apple considered latter to be a breach of users’ privacy. The relation between Apple and Google quickly went South.

In a meeting between Google and Apple, Steve Jobs accused Google of stealing several ideas and innovations from Apple, such as the multi-touch screen. Google hit back by saying that many of these of these features had existed prior to the iPhone. However, Jobs and Apple persisted with their claims and as we will see in the next section, despite Google removing some contentious features, a state of war came to be between Apple and Google.

Apple and Google go to war

Google ultimately had to capitulate, and remove many features from Android. Although Google had been fearless in the face of lawsuits till now, this time was very different. Android was far from ready, and any pending lawsuits might turn away potential partners which Google desperately needed for the success of Android.

For Rubin, the meeting was a disaster. Already the G1, the first Android phone to be manufactured by HTC, faced many problems. Removing the features which Jobs wanted to be removed, meant further work. Jobs, however, was thrilled. When the G1 finally launched in September 2008, it was no match for the iPhone (thanks to all the removed features).

By the end of 2008, all pretentions of friendship were dropped. Google now was focused heavily on competing with the iPhone, in the form of their second Android phone (the Droid), and planning for a third one. The Motorola Droid was a tremendous hit, and was the first successful Android phone. It included a bigger multi-touch screen than the iPhone, a better camera, more battery life and a host of other features. Sometime later, Google announced the Nexus 1.

The launch of the Droid, with its multi-touch screen, left Jobs furious. He accused Android of being a stolen, inferior product. Interestingly, Apple has not yet sued Google ever; it has only sued individual phone manufacturers (such as HTC and Samsung). This is so because it is much easier to show that a physical phone is copied than to show that software is copied. This is a strategic advantage for Google since it allows them to stay out of the legal fight.

Android gains popularity

By 2010, Android phones were everywhere. For consumers, Android offered something that the iPhone did not – choice. They could choose which carrier they wanted to go with (iPhone users were stuck with AT&T), they could choose which brand of phone they wanted (there were over a hundred Android phones, but only one iPhone), they could choose to expand their memory (the iPhone didn’t support expandable storage), etc. The growth in Android popularity, although not directly increasing Google’s revenues (since it was open-source), increased Google’s ad revenues from YouTube and Search.

Apple, on the other hand, was facing a host of problems. AT&T was not prepared for the massive increase in data traffic due to the iPhone, and because of this, their internet speeds were very slow. There were also problems with the antenna design in one model of the iPhone. Overall, Jobs was furious. He thought that Android was an existential threat to the iPhone. It challenged the very ecosystem of Apple, by innovating the Cloud. Android users could now back up all their data and account information to the Cloud, and access it on all devices.

Apple hits back with the iPad

Apple’s answer to the growing popularity of Android was to unveil the iPad – a tablet. The iPad was touted as something coming between the phone and the laptop, but better than both. This certainly wasn’t the world’s first tablet (even Apple built one before, the Newton), but all previous ones had failed. However, the iPad was different. It was quite fast (since it ran software optimized for it), had a good battery life, didn’t need to boot up every time, and its user interface was much like the iPhone.

After the launch of the iPad, initial reactions were lukewarm at best and downright critical at worst. Most people just thought of it as an iPhone with a bigger screen and said that it could never replace a laptop. However, once people started getting used to it, they loved it. Screen size was one of the biggest constraining factors in the iPhone, and the iPad relieved it.

The iPad sold very well, with 450,000 units in the first week, over a million in the first month and a whopping 19 million within the first year.

The legal battles

The legal battles fought by Apple, and other Android phone manufacturers were gruesome and long drawn out. Apple did not go after Google directly. Instead, they went after the individual handset manufacturers who made Android phones. The most prominent of these court cases was the one fought between Apple and Samsung.

This was one of the most famous corporate cases in American legal and corporate history. Samsung was the market leader in Android phones, and Apple alleged that a number of design and software features were stolen by Samsung from Apple. Samsung argued that the two devices were not precisely the same, and many of the general features were either very obvious, or had been in other devices before.

The case was ultimately settled in favour of Apple, with Samsung being ordered to pay $1 billion in damages for patent infringement. The verdict speaks as much about Apple's innovations as it does about how seriously Apple takes getting patents over even the most minute things and features and then defending those patents fiercely.

Android and Apple bring about a media revolution

Both Android and Apple have been responsible for bringing about a revolution in the media world. Content consumption, earlier restricted to TVs, movie theatres, books, and magazines, etc. have all converged around the mobile devices. People are now watching movies and TV shows on their phones, reading books and magazines on their tablets, etc. Social media has also made an enormous impact, with production houses no longer able to get people to watch bad movies since they are torn down in social media reviews within minutes of their launch. This has put many industries in jeopardy, but also created new opportunities and avenues.

Take, for example, all those YouTubers who have taken YouTube as a full-time career. On a larger scale, Netflix has produced a TV show (House of Cards) entirely on its own and put it on its digital platform. Amazon soon followed suit on its Amazon Prime Videos platform. Thus, mobile technology has completely changed the way the public sees, perceives, and consumes media. Everything now is in one’s palms. This is in no small part due to the innovations by Google and Apple, who have given a platform for developers to create software and content dedicated to mobile devices.

The future only looks bright for mobile devices.

Final summary

With the launch of the iPhone, the smartphone became a thing. It was much better and far different from any phone released till then. Google did help develop apps specifically for the iPhone, but they were developing their own phone as well. With the release of the iPhone, Google focused on developing the Android, an Operating System which will work on any mobile phone.

With the coming of Android phones, Google became locked in competition with Apple. The launch of the iPad entered a new dimension in this battle, as the larger screen tablet was better than mobiles for some specific uses. The battle between Apple and Android often took the form of legal battles, with Apple filing patent-infringement cases against several Android phone manufacturers. The most important of these was the Apple vs. Samsung case, where Samsung was ordered to pay $1 billion to Apple.

Ultimately, both Apple’s iPhone and iPad, as well as Android phones and tablets, have revolutionized the world, by bringing massive computing power in our pockets. Now we can watch TV or read books on our phones or tablets. Entire industries have changed and new arenas created as a result of these developments.