Apple uses WWDC to launch assaults on Google’s strongholds

What Apple did not announce, and which has not been talked about much, is the fact that many of the features of those platforms are obvious volleys in Google strengths like Google Translate, Google Chrome and even Google Search.

Apple and Google started out as companies with markets largely separate from each other. Apple has long been a leading hardware company, while Google was initially just a search engine. As the years passed, the lines became much more blurred.

Google’s Android smartphone operating system was launched in 2008 and the company’s first Nexus smartphones followed in 2010. Apple has been slowly shifting to a Services business, seemingly invading Google’s core services year after year.

The rivalry between Apple and Google has not been as legendary as that between Apple and Microsoft, of course. But the past decade has seen an increase in the two companies launching rival services and products. For hardware, Google has launched its own devices such as Google Pixel and Google Chromebooks. Apple’s software startups in the past decade include iCloud and Apple Maps, although the latter service has had its problems over the years.

In these cases, the services and products have still been different. Apple’s services are deeply embedded in its ecosystem and are generally more private. Google’s hardware tends to be lower cost than Apple’s premium price tags.

However, the underlying rivalry between Apple and Google appears to have reached a new level with Apple’s recent WWDC 2020 announcements.

Although Apple and Google may not compete directly at all levels, Apple’s WWDC 2020 conference made it clear that the Cupertino tech giant will come after some of Google’s core services.

Here are some featured examples.

Guides in Apple Maps have a similar function to personalized Google Maps recommendations, but they have an element of human healing.

There was certainly a time when Apple Maps was far behind Google’s navigation offering. Those days are over, and Apple continues to chase the heavyweight of mapping.

The addition of cycling directions has eliminated a long-standing absence for urban commuters, and Apple’s electric vehicle routing goes one step beyond Google’s simple EV charge locator. New features that warn drivers of red light cameras or speed traps align Apple Maps functionality with Google platforms like Waze.

Although the Guides are not a direct analogue of personalized Google Maps recommendations, they compete in Apple fashion: they offer selected recommendations from people, rather than algorithms.

The Translate application, as well as the native translation in Safari, come after the domain of Google Translate.

For a long time, when you needed a quick and easy translation, you would type “Google Translate” in your browser’s URL bar. In Apple’s new list of software updates, that could change.

Apple’s built-in translation app in iOS 14 seems tailor-made to be a Google Translate killer on iPhones and iPads. The feature is also offered in Siri, which offers functionality that Google Translate does not.

In macOS Big Sur, Apple’s Safari browser is also getting native translation, which means that Mac Safari users won’t even need to navigate to a separate web page to read content in other languages.

During a WWDC video session, Apple unveiled a new API that allows developers to port existing extensions for Chrome or Firefox to Safari.

Google Chrome is currently the most popular browser in the world. And even though Safari is fully integrated into Apple’s operating systems, there are still plenty of users who give it up for Chrome.

Although there are likely a lot of reasons, Chrome has always had something Safari doesn’t have. Namely, support for powerful and diverse web extensions.

In macOS Big Sur, Apple is launching its own Safari Web Extensions initiative that will see similar capabilities in the browser. It’s a small change, but one that allows Safari to better compete with Chrome.

Widgets add a layer of customization to iOS that Apple has long avoided.

Apple will not make iOS more like Android. But the company probably has nothing against borrowed ideas that users want from its rival operating systems. Take Widgets, which were advertised as a standout feature for iOS 14.

Widgets may look and feel more like Windows Live Tiles than Android’s home screen, but they take iOS customization a step in the direction of Android. The ability to have weather and other useful apps on the home screen is clearly similar to Android. The same goes for the new call and the Siri user interfaces.

Apple is not going to make iOS an Android clone. Deeper home screen functionality and less annoying call interfaces have been on the user’s iOS wish list. Apple is only considering those wishes.

Available on iOS and iPadOS, Apple’s new search feature can take users directly to websites and bypass Google search.

Apple is not making a search engine, although some analysts believe Apple should buy the privacy-centric DuckDuckGo engine. On the other hand, the new search function in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 is an interesting step in that direction.

It is not necessarily a search engine, but it mimics some of your functionality. In addition to launching applications or finding content on the device, the new Search on iOS and iPadOS can find web responses and take users directly to websites.

That’s notable because it can allow users to completely bypass Google, at least in some cases. If there’s one feature, however small, that suggests Apple is encroaching on Google’s core businesses, it’s this one.

Apple and Google are rivals, but have been willing to partner on some projects, such as the exposure notification framework.

Apple and Google are not deadly enemies. Their relationship is much more complicated than that. The two companies have shown their willingness to work together on certain projects, including, in particular, the Apple-Google contact tracking API. Although there were extraordinary circumstances that promoted this association, it did represent a

Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has since said he is “committed” to finding other opportunities to collaborate with the Cupertino tech giant. At the time, he also noted that he regularly talks to Apple CEO Tim Cook, and that the two tech giants regularly collaborate on projects.

However, the two companies remain competitors. And they also do not agree with some fundamental fundamental values, such as data privacy.

More than that, these new features are likely not necessarily direct attacks on Google. Instead, they’re a natural side effect of Apple shifting from being a hardware company to a service giant.

Apple’s Services business is expected to overtake the iPhone as the company’s main revenue driver. With growth like that, Apple is definitely going to set foot in the software services sector.

The company has long tried to consolidate and streamline its hardware supply chain. The switch to Apple Silicon is just proof of that. Apple is undoubtedly doing something similar for services.

By offering better proprietary applications and software, Apple can keep its users in business and, as a result, earn some monetary rewards. In return, Apple offers users services that respect privacy and are much more integrated with their hardware.

In other words, Apple’s intention is not just to go after Google. But when you create software and application offerings that “just work” better, your competitors and contemporaries will feel it.