10.17.09
Apple squaring off with Google behind the scenes?
It may be we are starting to see the real reason that Google and Apple are parting ways in the board room.
The following is speculation.
Apple is rumored to have a tablet-type device coming to market. The parts have been purchased, the agreements are in effect, but there has not been an official product announcement yet. And it is starting to get late for holiday timing. One of the issues with producing an Apple tablet like an iPhone or an iPod is the cost. In order to make the price lucrative to consumers Apple needs to find a hook that can create repeat sales. For the iPod this is music, for the iPhone it is phone service and music (and other media). A pad or tablet is not necessarily the device of choice for listening to music. It should be good for watching movies, but would be better are books or magazines in brilliant Apple-display color.
Google has been feverishly scanning books for a while. They are getting in the news and getting themselves into some controversy for it.
Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google was recently removed from the board at Apple. Now Google has announced that it will begin selling electronic books . It would appear that Apple is trying to find a source for electronic books, or a way to sell electronic books and magazines and Google was simultaneously getting ready to do the same thing leading to a conflict which resulted in the change. (we are still speculating here) Perhaps they could not agree on how to achieve this.
So who is Apple talking to about selling electronic books and magazines? Are they going directly to the publishers or are they working with Amazon.com? It would seem an Apple product would probably trump the Kindle so that seems unlikely. Maybe they will still partner with Google?
Could an Apple tablet or pad be released simply as a Macintosh computer? I think that seems unlikely giving the profit opportunity for repeat sales from something like books or magazines.
It will be interesting to see what happens and what future income streams Apple will try to dominate.