Like most tech giants, Apple and Google have a strange “coopetition” relationship, whereby they simultaneously compete and work together.
The latest example? Google, the company that spawned the rival Android mobile operating system, was the top developer in Apple’s iOS App Store last month.
According to a new report from app analytics platform Sensor Tower, Google was the highest-ranking mobile publisher on the App Store last month. Across both iOS and Android, it racked up more than 282 million installs. The report doesn’t say how many of these were on Apple’s platform, but they were in sufficient quantities that Google took the No. 1 developer spot on iOS.
Google’s apps on iOS include Google Calendar, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Photos. Given what heavy hitters many of those apps are, it’s no great surprise to hear that, cumulatively, they earn Google the place of top iOS developer. But there’s definitely a slight irony to it — especially given the tumultuous relationship the two companies have had in the past over the mobile ecosystem. (Remember Steve Jobs’ threat to go “thermonuclear war” on Google?)
Photo: Sensor Tower
Top developer? The complex relationship of Google and Apple
A recent report in The New York Times discussed the Google/Apple relationship, and how the former pays a massive amount of money to remain the default search engine on iOS. It observed that:
“Apple now receives an estimated $8 billion to $12 billion in annual payments — up from $1 billion a year in 2014 — in exchange for building Google’s search engine into its products. It is probably the single biggest payment that Google makes to anyone and accounts for 14 to 21 percent of Apple’s annual profits.”
Returning to the Sensor Tower report, several other tech giants Apple enjoys mixed relationships with also show up on the list of top developers. Facebook, for instance, comes in at No. 3. Microsoft, meanwhile, takes the No. 4 slot. Finally, Amazon occupies the No. 10 position.
Like the frenemy relationship Samsung has with Apple — whereby it guns for the iPhone in its smartphone business, but also helps build chips for the iPhone — it’s another reminder of just how complicated and intertwined the relationships are among tech’s elite.
(Incidentally, despite the fact that Cupertino makes apps like Apple Music available on Android, Apple did not rank in the Android list.)
Source: Sensor Tower
