We’re curious about Steve Jobs’ weekend-plans. With all the buzz and gossip going on before Apple’s worldwide developers conference in San Francisco on Monday we wonder if he can relax. Is he perhaps having a glass with Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt (who is also on Apple’s Board) discussing what might be unveiled on Monday? Or is he in front of the computer, listening to the Beatles while adding a last hand to his keynote address? Or is he happily having sushi with his children, telling them not to listen to much to gossip?
We wonder how he feels about all the speculation going on on the eve of the conference. At Wired’s blog Epicenter Fred Vogelstein writes that one announcement he’s sure Jobs will make on Monday is a far reaching, cloud computing partnership with Google. “Both companies have been hinting about it for months, and it makes perfect sense,” says Vogelstein referring to an interview he did in April with Eric Schmidt:
“We’re a perfect back end to the problems that they’re trying to solve,” Schmidt told me. “They have very good judgment on user interface and people. But they don’t have this supercomputer (that Google has), which is the data centers. What they have is a manufacturing business that’s doing quite well.”And what about Jobs? In response to a question on the subject last week he actually agreed, adding “stay tuned,” according to Wired.
This started off a wave of analysis and speculations in the blogosphere. At Between the lines Dan Farber writes that the alliance is not unlikely: Google CEO Eric Schmidt is on Apple’s board for a reason, and I don’t think that he got the seat because he and Steve Jobs share their iTunes playlists, he notes. Erick Schonfeld at The Next Net wonders whether Apple will be merely bundling in existing Google products which are already freely availble to any Mac or PC user, or whether Apple customers will get their own special flavor of Google applications. And Andy Beal, writing at his Marketing Pilgrim, notes that it will be interesting to see the reaction when two of the coolest brands in the world join forces. “Will their offspring be just as beautiful, or will loyalists from both camps reject the intrusion,” he asks.
Besides from the possible alliance to become with Google there is the issue of the much hyped iPhone being released on June 29 and new iPods. Tom Krazit at cNet News.com writes that Apple is preparing for one of the most pivotal summers in its history.
“At Apple – in case anyone still needed reminding after Jobs & Co. dropped “computer” from the company name – people are thinking about a lot more than laptops and desktops,” he writes.
And at Wired.com Scott Gilbertson and Leander Kahney applause Apple’s new animated OS, writing that Jobs is likely to give the world a glimpse of an upgraded Mac operating system that could herald the biggest changes to the machine’s interface in 30 years on Monday.
A lot is at stake here. We’re dying to learn more about Apple’s and Google’s game plans. And – will Apple and Steve Jobs get the recipe for the protein drinks served at Google when/if the alliance becomes official?
By Tina Magnergard Bjers and John Furrier
Silicon Valley Technology Blog - John Furrier 