Occasionally there are days when we’re reminded that there are other tech companies that exist besides the headline-hogging Apple, Google and Microsoft. That feeling always goes away.
Take Wednesday’s news that Apple is supposedly in discussions with Microsoft to switch out Google as the default search engine on the iPhone’s Safari Web browser for Microsoft’s Bing. Who knows if this is ever really going to happen? Certainly not the 10,000 media outlets writing pretty much the same story as each other about a possible Apple-Microsoft alliance against Google.
Why so much breathless speculation over the barest of third-hand reports? Our guess is that it’s for the same reason that so many people tune into MTV’s “Jersey Shore.” There’s something fascinating about watching the supremely self-impressed squabble amongst themselves over the pettiest things, such as who used the last of the bronzer or whether one search engine or another pops up on a browser before you change the default settings.
At any rate, the main thrust of Wednesday’s news is that now we have more evidence that Apple and Google are really going to war over smart phones. Even though we’ve pretty much already known that since Google’s NexusOne debuted.
The more interesting twist, of course, is that Apple seems actively ready to turn to Microsoft as an ally in this war. Given the two companies’ history, that can’t be something the crew at Apple relishes doing.
It’s sort of like “Jersey Shore’s” Snooki turning to the Situation to help counter some stunt by JWoww, am I right?
