Google extends deal with Apple to remain default iPhone search

Google recently extended its contract with Apple, making the dominant search provider the default option on devices running iOS, including the iPhone.

In a recent conversation with Charlie Rose of BusinessWeek, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt talked about his company's relationship with Apple. Rose asked about tension between Google and Apple since Google began partnering with smartphone makers for the Android mobile operating system.

"Apple is a company we both partner and compete with," Schmidt said. "We do a search deal with them, recently extended, and we're doing all sorts of things in maps and things like that."

He continued: "So the sum of all this is that two large corporations, both of which are important, both of which I care a lot about, will [remain] pretty close. But Android was around earlier than iPhone."

Schmidt also characterized the iPhone as a "closed" model controlled by Apple. He portrayed Android as a "turnkey solution with similar capabilities" to the iPhone, but one that gives vendors the "alternative" they seek.

Early this year, rumors suggested that Apple was in talks with Microsoft to make Bing the default search engine for the iPhone. Though that never came to be, the option to utilize Bing search was added to iOS 4.

However, Google has remained the default search provider for iOS devices, and Schmidt's recent comments would suggest that the company will remain the standard search provider for some time to come.