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Comment by mikeash | Hacker News Reader

> I’d say neither company was being a "jerk" here. Apple and Google were both acting in their own interests.

If this wasn't blindingly obvious to you from the very moment this whole business showed up in public, then you should take some time to reconsider how you analyze the world.

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True, true. But the additional claims from Gruber in this is that "both acting in their own interests, Google's being 'milk you dry for information and revenue', while apparently Apple is this beatific entity, whose interest is 'sincerely caring for ... their customers'." Eye roll

It's more that for Apple, users are customers (they buy the gadget), while for Google, users are the product being sold (ads).

Apple is just as interested as locking you into their world (itunes, app store, icloud, etc.) as google is. And apple gets I believe 30% of the ads you're shown within their ecosystem so you are the customer AND the product.

Jobs' "thermonuclear war" comment left open the possibility that Apple and Google might be acting in a more hot headed fashion than the average company.

It may be that hot heads were an issue but while we're evaluating the Maps deal loggerheads, let's remember that the original Maps app completely predated Google's releasing a product that directly competed with the iPhone. And that it's not surprising that, hot heads or not, this was bound to change Apple's calculus about (1) whether to continue with Google as a Maps partner and if so (2) how deep they were going to allow it to integrate.

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