Book Review

Dog fight how Apple and Google went to war
These days the majority of people use smart phones without giving much thought to the huge amount of brilliant work that has gone into the miniature computer in their pocket or handbag.

The concept of the smart phone was conceived by two people, Steve Jobs and Andy Rubin. Curiously they were, unbeknown to each other, working on the project at the same time. Steve, paranoid about the thought of his arch rivals Microsoft getting a whiff of his project, had a team of his top Apple geeks working in unprecedented secrecy. Andy, on the other hand, was quietly working away on his own.

And hereby hangs the tale. Steve Jobs required Google’s search and maps software for his smart phone and to ensure that he would have this exclusively he decided to cut Google in as a partner in the project. This included Google CEO Eric Schmidt taking a seat on the Apple Board.

Andy Rubin was the first to have a working model. He took this to Japan and made a presentation to the Sanyo Board who dismissed him as a dreamer. He then took the model to Google’s Larry Page and Brin Sergy. who offered Andy fifty million dollars on the spot. Plus a place in their company with a team to further develop the phone.

As a result Google were partners in one company secretly developing a smart phone while at the same time, equally secretly, developing a rival one of their own.

Jobs had mentored Page and Sergy in their early days of Google and he considered them personal friends. Unsurprisingly, when he found out of their treachery he was both furious and deeply hurt.

The book is a dramatic saga of corporate competition, friendships gone sour, trust and agreements betrayed. A tale of bickering, backstabbing, poaching, paranoia and patents argued. A true story which any fiction author would be proud to have made up.

Author , Fred Vogelstein, has reported on the technology world for over a decade and enjoys rare access to the leading players. He is the contributing editor to Wired magazine and also writes for Fortune, The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. However, be assured, this is not a book full of computer jargon but a clearly written, fast paced narration of an amazing true tale.