Undeterred, Apple bought top competitor Quattro Wireless for $275 million in January 2010. It then shuttered the service in September of that year in favor of its own iAd advertising platform. IAd allows developers of the programs in Apple’s App Store for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch to embed ads in their software. Apple will sell the ads and give the app developers 60 percent of the ad revenue.
Apple has been more than willing to use similarly combative tactics to slow its competition down. Apple sued HTC, the Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturer of Android-equipped phones, citing patent infringement. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has consistently bashed Google in the press, characterizing the company as a bully and questioning its ethics. Many analysts speculate that Apple may take a shot at Google by teaming up
with a partner that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago: Microsoft. News reports
suggest that Apple is considering striking a deal with Microsoft to make Bing its default search engine on both the iPhone and Apple’s Web browser. This would be a blow to Google, and a boon to Microsoft, which would receive a much needed boost to its fledgling search service.