Google & Apple -- Now It's War

Google, which began as a search engine based out of a garage, has in the past decade grown to encompass far more than just search queries. It's stepped on the toes of Microsoft when it began to create online applications through it's Google Docs program, and it started moving into Apple's territory when it began dabbling in browsers and touchscreen mobile phones. Google also began work on an alternative operating system - Android - and in the future plans to release netbooks with its OS. Wednesday was a day that both Google and Apple without a doubt declared war on eachother -- Apple revealed that they are strongly considering replacing Google search and apps on their iPhone with Microsoft and Bing offerings, and Google announced that they will be entering the online movie rental business.

Apple and Microsoft battled it out in the computer arena in the 1980s. Microsoft clearly came out on top with a large majority of the world now owning personal computers with Microsoft operating systems. Apple, however, remained a popular alternative to Microsoft, and the two companies have remained bitter rivals.

Times, however, have changed, and the two companies may be coming together in an effort to thwart a common enemy - Google. Apple is now in talks with Microsoft to replace Google as the default search engine on its iPhone. According to sources familiar with the situation, the talks have been underway for weeks now.

News of Apple's talks with Microsoft sends a clear message of war to Google.

Google, meanwhile, doesn't seem the slightest bit phased by whatever its competitors are up to. They've beat Microsoft handily in the search engine wars and contextual advertising, and are making major in-roads in the mobile phone operating system area. Now, they're seeking to get a piece of the paid online entertainment industry by announcing the launch of a paid movie rental service through YouTube.com.

While the launch of YouTube's paid rental service includes only 5 titles, all of which are independent films, it's only the beginning. They've been in talks with major Hollywood studios for over a year, and there's no reason studios wouldn't want another outlet to sell their films to the public.

In late 2009, Google launched a music service which will undoubtedly grow and expand in the future. I suspect it will eventually sell songs a la Apple's iTunes service. That was the first step in taking on iTunes. The second step is the addition of the new YouTube movie rental service. They are clearly taking a jab at Apple here.

On top of today's new battlefronts for Google and Apple, the two companies are duking it out in other areas as well:

Browsers:

Google is very new to the browser game, but is already winning over legions of fans with its Chrome browser. In little over a year, Chrome has overtaken the No. 3 browser -- Apple Safari -- and is nipping on the heels of No. 2 Mozilla Firefox.

Mobile Phones:

Apple changed the mobile phone game in 2007 with the introduction of the iPhone, but subsequent generations of the device have failed to truly be innovative. They also made the huge mistake of signing an exclusive contract with AT&T to offer the iPhone. AT&Ts spotty coverage has kept many would-be iPhone owners from taking the plunge. They've captured a huge portion of the mobile phone industry, but have hampered their growth potential by locking themselves in with just one carrier. In contrast, Google has phones with more than one carrier and they've got all the cool features that the iPhone has. Google's OS is open source and also allows anyone to create apps for its phones, while Apple maintains strict controls over what apps you can download and install on their locked-down proprietary OS.

Who'll Win the War?

At this point it looks like Google has momentum on their side. They're still young, and while Apple is generally considered to be hip, they're just as old as Microsoft. That means they aren't the hottest place to work anymore, and that Google has been snagging more of the industry's top engineers. Google is constantly innovating and keeping us regular folks involved in the process with the launch of their products in beta before opening up to a wider audience. Apple, meanwhile, hasn't come up with anything innovative since the launch of the iPhone. Sure, they're rumored to be making an Apple Tablet computer, but is that really innovative? It's just another toy for Apple fanboys, it's not a game changer.

Unless Apple has something amazing up their sleeve, Google is the clear favorite in this epic battle.