Apple has been more than willing to

Apple has been more than willing to use similarly combative tactics to slow its competition down. Apple sued HTC, the Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturer of Android-equipped phones, citing patent infringement. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has consistently bashed Google in the press, characterizing the company as a bully and questioning its ethics. Many analysts speculate that Apple may take a shot at Google by teaming up with a partner that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago: Microsoft. News reports 288 Part Two Information Technology Infrastructure suggest that Apple is considering striking a deal with Microsoft to make Bing its default search engine on both the iPhone and Apple’s Web browser. This would be a blow to Google, and a boon to Microsoft, which would receive a much needed boost to its fledgling search service.
The struggle between Apple and Google wouldn’t matter much if there wasn’t so much potential money at stake. Billions of dollars hang in the balance, and the majority of that money will come from advertising. App sales are another important component, especially for Apple. Apple has the edge in selection and quality of apps, but while sales have been brisk, developers have complained that making money is too difficult. A quarter of the 250,000 apps available in early 2010 were free, which makes no money for developers or for Apple but it does bring consumers to the Apple marketplace where they can be sold other apps or entertainment services.
Google in the meantime is moving aggressively to support manufacturers of handsets that run its Android operating system and can access its services online. Apple relies on sales of its devices to remain profitable. It has had no problems with this so far, but Google only needs to spread its advertising networks onto these devices to make a profit. In fact, some analysts speculate that Google envisions a future where mobile phones cost a fraction of what they do today, or are even free, requiring only the advertising revenue generated by the devices to turn a profit. Apple would struggle to remain competitive in this environment. Jobs has kept the Apple garden closed for a simple reason: you need an Apple device to play there.
The three-way struggle between Microsoft, Apple, and Google really has no precedent in the history of computing platforms. In early contests it was typically a single firm that rode the crest of a new technology to become the dominant player. Examples include IBM’s dominance of the mainframe market, Digital Euipment’s dominance of minicomputers, Microsoft’s dominance of PC operating systems and productivity applications, and Cisco Systems’ dominance of the Internet router market. In the current struggle are three firms trying to dominate the customer experience on the Internet. Each firm brings certain strengths and weaknesses to the fray. Will a single firm “win,” or will all three survive the contest for the consumer Internet experience? It’s still too early to tell.