Apple and Google's awkward mobile marriage: Why Apple needs Google

What struck me the most, when reading this article, is how thoroughly Microsoft has lost in the mobile space. Aside from mobile phones needing to interact with Exchange Server, Microsoft is increasingly irrelevant in the mobile space. At best they'll get to develop apps for the Android or iPhone platforms, but that must be a huge ego blow for a company that's used to being the platform-maker and not just another software vendor.

Google gets the importance of mapping, and location will be the crux of mobile data aggregation going forward. That being said, I don't think Apple doesn't get mapping. But I think only they can execute it smoothly and relevantly. Google, if given all the data in the world would still execute the UI like an engineer. That's great for the technorati, not so great for the mass. Apple gets UI and leans on Google for the back-end. Google still gets data, therfore: Google is still happy.

No need for a merger, and the fact that Android is still vaporwear shows that Apple has the advantage and doesn't need Google by any means. Google needs Apple to execute the front-end.

Everyone forgets about iTunes lock-in. If someone (in North America, Europe) is in the market to buy a smartphone, there's a good chance they're looking for a non-shuffle iPod replacement as well, and if enough of their library is in m4p format, the iPhone is their only option.

Secondly, while the Street View thing is neat, I can only imagine how horribly stupid it would look if you were standing on a street corner and rotating in place. People are just going to use the touch interface instead. The only real application for this sort of Street View interface is pervasive gaming.