Edging competitor Google /quotes/zigman/93888/quotes/nls/goog GOOG +1.73% Â off the iPhone and iPad may be harder than Apple thinks.
Apple, Yahoo discuss deeper partnership
Apple and Yahoo have been discussing how more of Yahoo's services can play a prominent role on Apple's devices. Photo: Getty Images
Yahoo has been in discussions with Apple /quotes/zigman/68270/quotes/nls/aapl AAPL +2.26%  about how to make its news content and other services more prevalent [1] on iPhones and iPads, reports The Wall Street Journal. The talks come as Apple looks to limit competitor Google’s role in providing services on its devices. (Both Apple and Yahoo declined to comment on the possible deal.)
Analysts say Apple’s strategy makes sense, competitively, but that any attempts to swap out Google with Yahoo will be well down the road. “It’s probably less likely to happen near term after the way Apple Maps went,†says Tavis C. McCourt, senior equity analyst at financial services company Raymond James. The company’s decision to replace Google Maps with Apple Maps when the iPhone 5 went on sale last year was widely panned by consumers [2] and tech analysts, who complained the product was buggy and offered confusing results. As a result, chief executive Tim Cook offered up a rare apology for the sub-par app .
The approach this time around could be subtler, with Yahoo supplementing Apple’s data needs rather than say, becoming its default Web-search or news provider. “We get the sense that any partnership would be incremental to the platform,†says Brian Colello, an equity analyst for Morningstar who covers Apple. Even then, Apple is likely to wade into competition with Google cautiously, says Tim Shepherd, a senior analyst with research firm Canalys. “It’s about trying to provide alternative choices to Google apps, but those choices have got to be compelling,†he says.
That’s a high bar. Even if Apple makes fewer Google apps and tools part of its default iPhone and iPad offerings, there’s no eliminating the company’s presence entirely. “You would still be able to download Google apps on the app store,†McCourt says. And consumers have shown a preference for some Google apps over those that Apple has its own substitutes for. Currently, Google holds five spots in iTunes’ list of most popular free apps, including YouTube (No. 11), Google Maps (No. 14), Google Chrome (No. 66), Gmail (No. 84) and Google Drive (No. 100). Of the top 300 apps, Google developed 10, says Shepherd. “That’s a pretty big number relative to other developers,†he says. “Very few have that kind of portfolio.â€
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Links
- ^ more prevalent (online.wsj.com)
- ^ panned by consumers (articles.marketwatch.com)
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