TechCrunch went through the fine print and noticed that, with iOS 3.2 (iPhone 3.2 for iPad) Apple switched from using Skyhook and Google’s location database to using their own, home spun, solution.

When reached for comment, Skyhook wouldn’t specifically talk about their relationship with Apple, but they did say that “everyone who has a platform wants to own as much of the location stack as possible. Location data is going the be huge and owning it is going to be the next big war in mobile.“

Indeed. Now roll Apple-acquired PlaceBase and Poly9 Map layer brain-trusts into the equation, and what will we get?

[TechCrunch]

Apple ditched Skyhook and Google, rolled their own location database is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a recent interview that they’re not in competition with Apple, even while taking a little shot at the company on whose board of directors he sat during the iPhone’s development.

We don’t have a plan to beat Apple, that’s not how we operate,” Schmidt says. “We’re trying to do something different than Apple and the good news is that Apple is making that very easy.”

“The difference between the Apple model and the Google model is easy to understand – they’re completely different. The Google model is completely open. You can basically take the software – it’s free – you can modify whatever you want, you can add any kind of app, you can build any kind of business model on top of it and you can add any kind of hardware. The Apple model is the inverse.”

Which is poppycock, really.

I’m as invested in Google’s services as I am Apple’s products, but come on. Completely open? Like any company, Google is open in what doesn’t make them money and proprietary as heck in what does. Android is open (under the Apache license, not GPL — which should give the philosophical FOSSies pause) but Google certainly hasn’t opened their search or AdWords platforms. Likewise Apple open sources WebKit (which Google uses for their browser) and OpenCL and Grand Central and FaceTime, but keeps their crown jewels equally closed. So enough already with the open stuff. You give me free services so you can mine my data, I sell my soul to you to use them. Deal. Just don’t insult my intelligence while doing it.

Much like the silly Google I/O comments, Google needs to compete on technology, not fake ideology. Android 2.2 sounds smoking hot and Android 3.0 might finally look as good as it works. Compete on that.

(Which, of course, is Google’s plan. It’s the plan they claim they don’t have — the one that had them go from a BlackBerry-esque prototype to an iPhone-like model almost immediately after Macworld 2007.)

They are opposites when it comes to go-to-market strategy, however. Apple is doing the (almost) bottom-to-top solution, lacking only their own carrier. Makes for great, integrated, singular vision. Google is partnering on hardware and implementation. Makes for excellent, diverse, flexible options.

We’re lucky to have both. We’d be luckier if Google just said so straight out.

[Telegraph.co.uk via Android Central]

UPDATE: Why is Android being Apache license important? Because it’s a corporate-centric license. A carrier could take Android and, under Apache, release a completely locked down phone if they want. It makes Android only as open as the company implementing it. That highlights another key difference between Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android — Apple is targeting the customer. Google is targeting the carrier/manufacturer. Apple has given carriers as little say in the iPhone as possible. Google’s license gives the carrier complete say if they so choose. For the average consumer, that’s what makes the philosophical argument about “openness” realistically meaningless.

Also, any app is difficult given Google recently remote-killed 2 apps off users phones (something Apple has yet to do). Sure, you could side-load apps, except the Apache license allows AT&T to close that aspect of openness, doesn’t it?

Google CEO: We don’t have a plan to beat Apple is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

No starker contrast could be drawn between Apple’s iPhone 4 strategy and Google’s Android than this past week where iPhone 4 made its traditional once-a-year debut — just as Motorola showed off a new Verizon Droid X, T-Mobile Charm, AT&T Flipout, and Samsung announced the Galaxy S-class Sprint Epric 4G, Verizon Facinate, T-Mobile Vibrant, AT&T Captivate, and an as yet unbranded US cellular Galaxy S as well.

Only some of these have been officially announced, but even that number dwarfs Apple’s once-a-year iPhone release schedule. That they’re coming out around iPhone 4 launch, and iPhone 4 is a strong contender in the market right now (1.7 million in 3 days strong) is interesting. That Google and their manufacturing partners could keep up this pace in 3 months, 6 months, and when iPhone 4 is starting to show its age in 8 months is… something else.

Personally I — and most importantly my early-adapter-pained wallet — enjoy Apple’s annual cycle. I don’t know how Phil Nickinson from our sibling site Android Central survives some weeks. To always have a new phone to look forward to is exciting — and terrifying. Ask me again in January though, and I might be itching for that iPhone 5…

Do you feel you benefit as an iPhone user from Apple staying focused on that one, integrated, end-to-end handset you own for the better part of a year? Or do you think Google’s approach of hardware partners launching new devices, on different network, all the time will lead to greater innovation in the end? Focus can lead to stagnation, fragmentation to loss of direction. Maybe having both approaches in the market, pushing each other, is the best thing for all users?

Apple launches 1 iPhone a year, Android shows off 8 last week is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Google has remotely wiped two apps from Android users’ phones, which is something Apple has always had the ability to do with iOS, but has so far never done.

For all the crazy stories about App Store rejections, and the well-deserved criticism Apple faces for some of them, to their credit they’ve never reached out and yanked an app off a users’ phone. Amazon famously deleted Orwell books from Kindle libraries, and now Google has killed Android apps, and maybe one day Apple will find a reason to do likewise (malware comes to mind) but today, they’re the ones who haven’t.

Irony aside, Google’s been very open about the reasons for going all “power word kill” on the apps:

Recently, we became aware of two free applications built by a security researcher for research purposes. These applications intentionally misrepresented their purpose in order to encourage user downloads, but they were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data — or system resources beyond permission.INTERNET. As the applications were practically useless, most users uninstalled the applications shortly after downloading them.

After the researcher voluntarily removed these applications from Android Market, we decided to exercise our remote application removal feature on the remaining installed copies to complete the cleanup.

The remote application removal feature is one of many security controls Android possesses to help protect users from malicious applications. In case of an emergency, a dangerous application could be removed from active circulation in a rapid and scalable manner to prevent further exposure to users. While we hope to not have to use it, we know that we have the capability to take swift action on behalf of users’ safety when needed.

Again, Apple may decide they have to do likewise one day, so it’s an important reminder to anyone with a managed app or content store — iPhone, Android, Kindle, maybe Palm someday as well.

Does this concern you, or do you trust platform providers to only use the big red ban button when it’s to protect you? Or do you think users should have the choice — a big scary prompt button saying “malicious app detected – delete now/cancel at own risk”?

[Android Developers Blog via Android Central]

Google remote kills 2 Android apps from user phones is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Even as iPhone 4 goes out for delivery, and reservists start lining up at Apple Stores, Motorola, Google, Adobe, and Verizon announced the Droid X, the latest, best Android on the planet.

Our good friend Phil from Android Central was there to live-blog all the news live as it happened, and even now is going hands-on with the Droid X, but we managed to tear the spec-sheet away from him long enough to update our joint fact sheet on all things iPhone 4 vs. Android.

For easy reference, here are the Droid X stats gone solo:

• Huge 4.3″, 16:9, 854×480 screen (that’s 400,000 pixels)
• HDMI out and DLNA support
• 1GHz TI OMAP processor
• Full Flash 10.1 (not available at launch, waiting on Froyo 2.2)
• 8 gigs on board and a 16gig card included, but compatible with 32gig SD cards for a total potential memory of 40 gigs
• 512mb RAM
• 8 megapixel camera that captures 720p HD video
• Three microphones (outward-facing for video, noise-canceling, and regular)
• a 1570mAh battery, which should be ‘comparable to the Droid 1′ on battery life
• GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi, naturally
• Wi-Fi Hotspot with support for tethering up to 5 devices will also be available for an additional $20 per month with a 2 gig cap.

Good on Android for getting around previous app storage constraints, and for keeping the push on for Wi-Fi Hot Spot. It won’t be released until July 15 but announcing now lets them get b-roll on iPhone 4 coverage so, smart. (Though some are playing this off as more competition to the Evo 4G than the iPhone 4).

Anyway you slice it, this is a big Droid. But is it big enough to go one-on-one with iPhone 4 and iOS 4?

iPhone 4 vs Droid X – tech specs is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

It should come as no surprise that both Palm webOS and Google Android want iPhone developers on their platform. Mac developers have long been as passionate about their platform and incredibly talented in the apps they’ve delivered, and a lot of that has transferred over to iOS devices like the iPhone and now iPad.

Whether or not Apple is engaged in a platform war with Palm and Google it’s inarguable that the current generation of users want apps and right now Apple has an advantage in that area. Part of getting people to switch to another platform is making sure the apps they love are on that platform, and that means big name apps and fan favorites alike.

If Google is moving around behind the scenes, approaching core iPhone developers (the ones who make the most iPhone-like apps and enjoy high mind share) and trying to sneak them over to Android, Palm has gone one step further — openly courting them.

In the middle of Apple’s iOS-centric WWDC 2010 no less, Palm held a shindig of their own, a PDK (Plugin Developer Kit) soiree to wine and dine iPhone developers, point out the Pre has pretty much the same guts as the iPhone 3GS, and that a lot of applications can be ported over — especially games. And they made certain to highlight their openness, especially to emulators and cross-compilers. And they offered $1 million dollars in incentives.

Obviously users go where the apps are and developers make apps for where the users are, so the cycle can be vicious or virtuous, and just as obviously Google and Palm would much rather the latter.

Competition is good, different approaches are good, and options for developers are great, but whether or not Google and Palm can convince iPhone developers (and now iOS 4 developers) to become mobile developers is the question.

Palm webOS and Google Android after iPhone developers is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Apple restricting third-party advertisers from collecting personal data if they are owned by another platform vendor could be a way of preventing Google’s AdMob from competing directly on the iPhone with Apple’s iAd, but it could also be a sign that Apple, cranky after leaked iPhone prototypes and iPad analytics, is determined to take back control of user data.

Steve Jobs was nothing if not heated at the D8 conference about the leaked iPhone prototype, and perhaps even more so about in-app analytics taking user data, including device and location, and using that to reveal details about the iPad long before it was announced. Imagining Apple’s subsequent reaction to the thought of now-rival Google having early access to such detailed information not only about unreleased Apple devices, but about which devices iOS users have, at what location, and their app usage patterns probably sent a chill down their collective spines.

App Cubby’s David Barnard put together an excellent post about it earlier today:

When you use Google search and other Google products, they collect a tremendous amount of information and use that information to customize and better serve the ads that are the core of their business. Many users don’t even realize this is happening, others are comfortable with it and have some level of trust for Google’s intent in using that data.

Well, Apple doesn’t trust the benevolence of Google, developers, and other third parties involved in the iOS platform. Apple wants to control the flow of user information.

Barnard also points out Apple primarily makes their money off hardware sales, not the brokering of user information the way Google or Facebook do. He also suggests part of AdMob’s $700 million value to Google was exactly the type of data they could pull off iOS devices:

[David Barnard / App Cubby]

Apple, Google, AdMob, mobile advertising, privacy, and competition is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

The US government is reportedly now investigating Apple for the terms in the iOS 4 GM license that restrict rival ad networks owned by competing platforms — i.e. Google’s AdMob. Independent ad networks are not effected, nor is Apple’s own iAd platform.

According to two people close to the situation, US regulators have already taken an interest in Apple’s actions, though it is not yet clear whether it will be left to the Federal Trade Commission, which carried out the recent Google investigation, or the Department of Justice to take an investigation forward.

This follows other reported probes into Apple’s restriction on cross-compilers — i.e. Adobe’s Flash CS5 packager for iPhone, and its position in music — i.e. Apple’s decision to not promote tracks that gave rival Amazon MP3 a 24hr exclusive.

Google’s AdMob acquisition itself faced intense US government scrutiny due to its dominant position in the online advertising market. Both Apple and Google want to buy AdMob, with Google winning out and Apple purchasing Quatro Wireless to power their new iOS iAd platform instead.

If one thing is clear, it looks like PC-underdog Apple is a high profile investigative target in the mobile space.

[Financial Times]

US government investigating Apple’s AdMob exclusion is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

For those of you who love your spec porn, there it is up top, and we’re honestly beginning to wonder — what could they possibly do next? (Besides mind-control, of course).

iPhone 4 vs Droid Incredible vs Android Evo 4G vs Nexus One tech specs is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Steve Jobs doesn’t see platform wars (maybe that’s why they lost to Microsoft over PCs!), they just want to make the best products. Google has decided to compete with Apple. Apple took a tiny open source browser (he means KHTML/Konquerer) and made WebKit and left it open source, which is unusual for Apple. Now competitors use it too, WebKit is leading in mobile.

Nokia is still number one in smartphone, RIM number two. Apple still has Google services on iPhone and iPad. Just because they’re competing with someone doesn’t mean they have to be rude. (Wait, was that a zing at Adobe’s ads or Google’s I/O trash-talk… or both?)

Video after the break!

Steve Jobs at D8 video: Google chose to compete against Apple is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog