Josh OngSpeaking at the D9 conference organized by All Things D, Schmidt said that Google's relationship with Apple had gotten "rough" as competition between Android and iOS heated up, but they remained good partners in certain businesses, Reuters reports.
Schmidt put to rest rumors that Apple planned to abandon Google's maps and search technology in the iPhone. According to the executive, the two companies recently renewed their partnership to continue to provide services for the iPhone. "We just renewed our map and search agreements with Apple, and we hope those continue for a long time," he said. Last year, it was suggested that Google pays Apple as much as $100 million a year in a revenue sharing deal for searches made on the iPhone.
Schmidt also talked candidly about his company's rivalry with Facebook. "We tried very hard to partner with Facebook ," he noted. "They were unwilling to do the deal." In hindsight, Schmidt said he would have pushed harder to compete with Facebook. "I screwed up," he admitted.
Google co-founder Larry Page took over for Schmidt as CEO in April. Schmidt formerly served on Apple's board of directors before stepping down due to a conflict of interest.
Apple does, however, appear to still be working on building out its own Maps team. In March, AppleInsider discovered a job listing for an iOS Maps Application Developer that would help "radically improve" Apple's location-based services. Last year, Apple began using its own Maps location databases, though it still relies on Google for the maps themselves.
Last month, Apple revealed that it is collecting anonymous traffic data in order to build a "crowd-sourced traffic database," though it was not immediately clear whether the use of the word "traffic" referred to network data or transportation.
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30 Comments
Well if were gonna have to deal with google maps again. I at least hope they offer the turn by turn voice directions, and the voice search while we're at it!
I for one am very happy about this. I'm doing an MSc in cartography at the mo, and did a wee study in the state of the various mapping companies such as Google and Microsoft. Google by far have the best reach in data - Microsoft are doing well, but Google has a much more consistent data around the world. Try looking for small places outside the US and Europe, and their differences can be seen quite quickly. It is this data that makes the maps - Apple do not create these data. Good maps and bad maps can still use the same sources, but it is up to the map makers to provide a clear visual hierarchy, and easily readable maps that best show off this data to the user. This is where Apple are focusing, and I have high hopes based on past GUI efforts.
If Apple released iSearch, based on the principle of no tracking and no ads - I'd drop Yahoo, Bing and Google in a shot.
I know it would require Apple to do a lot more heavy lifting, but I would love to see Apple move away from doing so much business with direct competitors like Google and Samsung. I stinks to have to give money to someone working against you.
I'm actually a bit disappointed with this. The Google Maps app is identical to the original, and lacks all of the features available to the competition. I can only assume this is due to a choice by Google to not release the navigation maps app for iPhone due to their rough relationship with Apple.
If they resolve to fix this and update the app which is in sore need of some lacking features, then I'll be satisfied.