The irony of the Apple-Google battle: They’re rivals despite having entirely different goals

From BGR.com

By now you’ve probably heard about the mini-backlash that’s ensued over Apple’s botched Maps implementation on iOS 6 after it decided to ditch Google Maps earlier this year. But anyone paying attention to the Apple-Google rivalry shouldn’t be surprised that Apple would flop in its first attempt at creating a maps application that’s traditionally been Google’s bread and butter. After all, Apple and Google have two entirely different business models and strategies, and the two companies find themselves competing despite, not because of, those models.

Let’s start with Apple’s strategy because it’s relatively straightforward. Apple basically wants consumers to fall in love with every aspect of Apple hardware and software, and it wants people to make Apple computers, smartphones, tablets and music players central to their everyday lives. In case you haven’t noticed, the company is extremely good at this, as its hardware is consistently lighter, thinner and more attractive than its rivals and its operating systems are amazingly smooth and pain-free, especially when compared with Windows-based devices.

Google is a different animal entirely. Its goal is not to peddle hardware or to even software per se, but to instead focus relentlessly on improving the Internet, both from a performance and an access perspective. Google’s revenue model is simple: The more clicks its sites and its partner sites get, the more money it makes from advertisements. And the best way to ensure that its sites keep getting clicks is to make sure more people have access to high-speed Internet service that delivers content quickly and efficiently.

This is why Google pushed out Android as an open-source operating system: It wanted to expand access to the mobile web so consumers have more opportunities to click on Google sites, and the millions of sites that run Google’s ads, even when they weren’t sitting at their desktops. Similarly, Google decided to build out Google Fiber as a way to spur incumbent ISPs to build out faster networks that would result in more use of Google products. And yes, it’s the same story with Chrome: Google figured out that more people would use its sites if they had access to a high-performance Web browser.