Apple and Google: Growing Apart?

Apple and Google. Both well respected names in the tech industry, who, in the past, have worked relatively closely with one another. But, in the past couple of years, I have seen a clear decline in the relationship between Google and Mac users.

I can't say that I am completely surprised by this. It is no secret that Google is making the move from search engine, to ecosystem. With Android and Google OS they are intentionally competing with the companies that they provide their core services to, leaving Apple (and others) no choice but to distance themselves to some extent. I don't have a problem with this, because I think competition fosters innovation. However, I do have certain points of contention in regards to the way Google has seemingly snubbed the Mac community with two of it's biggest products outside of search.  

Let's start the list, shall we?

Google Chrome

The first official release of Google Chrome for Windows was December, 11, 2008 with a rudimentary  beta for OS X released in June, 2009. Google Chrome for the PC is now in version 3. Meanwhile. Today is now October 1st, 2009, and an official release for OS X is not expected for another 4 - 6 months. 

As someone who has used Google Chrome for the PC, I can tell you that I think  Google Chrome is a new browser.. but a year and a half delay between the release for different operating systems is unacceptable. I am by no means a developer, but I see no logistical reason why development for OS X should take so much longer.

Google Talk

Google Talk is Google's instant messaging client. While this is less of a big deal, Mac users cannot download the official Google Talk application, as it is PC only. You can integrate Google Talk into third party messengers, such as iChat or Aduim, however, those do not allow you to take advantage of Google's audio or video calls. While you can make audio and video calls through the Google Chat web interface, my question is… why? Again, I see little reason why Apple has not released an official Google Talk application for Mac.

I should note, as I was in the process of writing this, a headline in my news reader "Apple buys map service to compete with Google?" has appeared. Apparently, the service is called Placebase, and it has a lot of the same features as Google Latitude. I will include a link to that story. 

My closing thoughts are as follows: I have no problem with Google becoming more competitive in the OS wars, but I do not think it is smart for them to ignore other operating systems, because at the end of the day, Google's bread and butter is their web based services. And, if they continue to ignore users who are willing to use their services, it's likely those people will use/find alternatives, which is only to Googles detriment. 

Twitter is falling?

Hey guys, obviously you know about the social networking giant Twitter. You might not know that it hasn't found a true business model to stick to for as long as they are live. Should they become a web only, phone only, both, or do something else. The Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said "I will not put ads on our homepage." Unfortunately if Twitter wants to stay alive and make money, ads may be the only option. 

For Apple news, headlines, and rumors follow: http://twitter.com/AppleTechRumors on twitter!

iPhone Glitch

Ok guys, so as you may know the iPhone is one of the advanced technological products on the market and can pretty much do anything, even have a couple of glitches. This afternoon a guy on YouTube named Jon4lakers made it very clear that an iPhone glitch on the youtube application is evident. Here's what it is, go to the YouTube most viewed page on your iphone, then scroll down to the last video no most viewed today up at the top, and no matter how hard you try (for most of you) the last video from that section will not play. The one before that, and the one before that will play, just not that one. Now although this is a minor glitch, if you do want to watch the last video on most viewed today, your screwed.

For more Apple related news, headlines, and rumors follow AppleTechRumors on twitter, thanks!

Google Releases Push E-mail For The iPhone

Today, Google released the ability to receive push e-mail notifications to the iPhone. For those of you who may be unaware, push notification is the ability to be notified of an email instantly. Up to this point, the iPhone could only retrieve mail from the Google servers every 15 minutes. 

Before I go on any further, I would like to point a few things out. First things first, this service is in beta, and the service was launched today. That being said, my personally experience with the service is unreliable at this point. My iPhone has had problems connecting to the mail server, as well as moving messages to the trash.

 If you would still wish to set up Push notification for the iPhone, it is STRONGLY advised that you back up your data before you begin, as you are setting up a new service and could lose all of your contacts and calendar events.

 Please also note that this only works with software version 3.0 and above

 To set up Google Sync for the iPhone

1. Go to "Settings" on the iPhone Home Screen

2. In "Settings", select "Mail, Contacts, Calendars"

3. Tap the "Add Account" option

4. Select "Microsoft Exchange" as your new mail account

5. In the email field, enter your full Gmail address (youremailaddress@gmail.com)

6. Leave the "Domain" field blank

7. Enter your full Gmail address as the username (youremailaddress@gmail.com)

8. Enter your Gmail password in the password field

9. Tap "next" at the top of the screen.

10. If the "Unable to Verify Certificate" box appears, tap "accept"

11. In the server field enter: m.google.com

12. Tap "next" 

13. Select the services you wish to push to your phone.

 That's it! 

As I stated earlier, this is new and is a beta, so user experience may vary. If you wouldn't mind, come back to this post and share your experience with Google sync.

More reasons to hate the iPhone

I personally have the iPhone and I love it! Great iPod interface, the UI is remarkable, the browser is the best in the biz, etc. Now there is one downside to having all these features, and that is the battery life. Now, give it credit, when you run push email , push twitter accounts, and surf the web, granted you'll have some significant battery lose. The iPhone has been relatively good at managing the battery life of the phone, but is still not up to par. Now in the last Apple event called "It's time for Rock and Roll...but we like it" Apple announced the new Apple OS 3.1 which gave some decent updates and some good additions. Weeks later, Apple is getting countless calls from owners saying they had "remarkable battery lose", now take into account the iPhone battery was already poor. I personally haven't seen much of a change in the battery life, but it is definitely something they need to fix in the future.

For more Apple news, headlines, and rumors follow @AppleTechRumors on twitter!

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