“I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product,” Steve Jobs says in author Walter Isaacson’s 2011 biography of the late Apple co-founder.
Jobs’ fury around Google and its smartphone software is well documented, and the many lawsuits involving Apple and various Android partners showed that Jobs was serious about his allegations of theft. But the reality is that both Apple and Google have taken inspiration from each other for years and that neither company would be where it is today without the work of the other.
So, because this year saw Android mark its 15th anniversary (since the launch of the first Android-based phone, the T-Mobile G1), let’s take a look back at the journey the companies have taken to becoming the most dominant forces in the tech world — and how their competition pushed them to innovate.Â
Smartphones have arguably changed the world more than any other invention in human history, from radically altering how we interact with one another to creating a whole new category of companies that deal in various mobile technologies. And though Jobs may have been outspokenly vitriolic about Android in the early days, it’s clear that ideas and inspiration have echoed back and forth between Apple and Google in the years since.
During the last 15 years of competition between the two companies, it’s often felt like we’ve been watching siblings bickering at playtime, falling out over who had which toy first or crying to their parents when the other one took something that wasn’t theirs. Most siblings will argue to some extent throughout their lives, but history is also rife with pairings that, through spirited competition, pushed each sibling to succeed.Â
“When we play against each other, we always raise each other’s game,” global tennis star Venus Williams once said, referring to her competition with sister Serena, who, like Venus, was a dominant Grand Slam player during her time in the sport.Â
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