Google’s Schimdt admits ‘rough’ relationship with Apple

Google Executive chairman Eric Schmidt said yesterday that they have reached an agreement with Apple to continue providing maps and search technology for the iPhone.

Schmidt spoke at the D9 conference and said that Google's relationship with Apple had gotten ‘rough' as competition between iOS and Android was getting more heated. He said they remained good partners in certain businesses.

“We just renewed our map and search agreements with Apple, and we hope those continue for a long time,” he said. Google apparently pay Apple as much as $100 million a year for a revenue sharing deal for searches made on the iPhone.

Schmidt also spoke about Google's rivalry with Facebook “We tried very hard to partner with Facebook ,” he said. “They were unwilling to do the deal.” He regrets now however that he didn't push harder to compete with Facebook. In a moment of candor he said “I screwed up.”

Schdmit served on Apple's board of directors before he stepped down due to a conflict of interest. Apple may not need Google for much longer however as the cupertino electronics giant are said to be making their own Maps software. They do already use their own Maps location databases, but they rely on Google for the maps themselves.

KitGuru says: A strained relationship? it certainly seems like it.

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