Apple ? Google war heats up

Jun 08, 2012 - 05:30 PM EDT ? AAPL: 580.32 (+8.60, +1.5%) | NASDAQ: 2858.42 (+27.40, +0.97%)

Friday, June 8, 2012 ? 5:01 pm ? 6 Comments

?Apple on Monday is expected to announce its own mapping application, displacing Google Maps as one of the most-valued features on the iPhone. It will unveil closer integration of its iPhone apps and its iCloud storage service, the latest riposte in its battle with Google?s Android smartphone software,? Poornima Gupta reports for Reuters.

?It may promote the latest in Siri, the voice interface that the company thinks can continue to set the iPhone and the iPad apart from the Android pack,? Gupta reports. ?And there will likely be a new line of Macintosh laptops too ? underscoring the leverage that a full line of hardware products can bring to what is mainly a software war with Google.?

Gupta reports, ?Apple?s expected move to replace Google Maps with its own mapping application is a particularly dramatic example of how the rivalry between the companies has been evolving? Apple has spent three years preparing to take mapping back. It has integrated technology from acquisitions such as 3D mapping company C3 Technologies, Canadian startup Poly9 Group and mapping service Placebase, ISI analyst Brian Marshall said. ?As Apple builds out its Siri service, they build out the iCloud infrastructure and more capability into its operating system, location data is going to become important,? said Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu. ?This could help their advertising business too.??

Read more in the full article here.

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