Here’s Why Google Pays Apple $15 Billion Each Year
The startling reason behind Google’s hefty cheque
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Google and Apple have been competing with one another ever since the existence of smartphones.
Be it Android versus iOS, Google Pixel versus iPhone, Google Maps versus Apple Maps, or Play Store versus App Store, the two tech giants have been striving to keep their products and services on top of its rival.
But this hasn’t always been the case. Prior to the recent Godzilla versus King Kong battle, Apple and Google were very close to one another. Like really close! Before the smartphone wars, the two companies were actually business partners.
In fact, in 2001, when Google was just a three-year-old startup, Google’s founders, Larry and Sergey offered Steve Jobs the position of Google’s CEO. But Jobs, being too much involved with Apple and Pixar, had denied this generous offer.
However, Jobs continued to provide mentorship to Google. If you wonder, why would Jobs help out a company that would become their strongest competition in the future, let me tell you that back then this possibility was unthinkable, as Google was only in the search business and had its own struggles with Yahoo and other similar startups.
Moreover, there was an evil motive for Apple for assisting Google, since the two companies shared a common mission of limiting the dominance of Microsoft in the computer and service industry.
And because of this alliance, Apple and Google heavily benefitted from one another’s products. In 2006, when the first-ever iPhone was in development, Google’s then CEO, Eric Schmidt, joined Apple’s board of directors since Google’s products, YouTube and Google Maps, were to be featured as native stock apps on the iPhone.
Heck, Eric Schmidt even had his own segment during the iPhone launch event and praised the product.
But gone are those lovey-dovey days! For a decade and a half, Google and Apple have been each other’s biggest rivals. And what’s worse than competing with an old-friend-slash-rival? Paying a $15 billion sum each year!
Now, unlike Apple, Google isn’t just a company famous for selling hardware, software and subscription-based…
