[hal9zillion]

I dont think Google are at all interested in killing the iPhone. Unlike Microsoft circa 2013-14 they know what type of company they are - an advertising funded services company. They would be more or less as happy if everyone was using Google Search and Google Apps on iOS as if everyone went out nd brought Android products.

Android was a straegic ploy to avoid being shut out of the next computing platform by a dominant/monopolistic competitor. From some accounts, at the time Android was first planned, they believed that would be Microsoft - a much more natural competitor than Apple. The Apple/Google rift is a strange thing that had as much to do with Jobs’ personal emotions as anything else. While alive he set in motion a lot of Anti-Google initiatives such as Apple Maps, an army of lawsuits etc but i thik things will gradually cool off betwen the two as time passes.

Still, given what amazing companies they are, its sad that things will never go back to the "best buds” period that you mention here...