Google, Apple renew iPhone maps and search pact

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) confirmed it has reached a deal with archrival Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to continue providing map and search services across Apple's iOS mobile platform. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Google search and Google maps will continue to be available via Apple's iOS platform.

"We just renewed our map and search agreements with Apple, and we hope those continue for a long time," said Google Executive Chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt during a Tuesday appearance at the D9 conference, squashing rumors that Apple would sever ties in the face of increasingly intense competition between the two tech leviathans.

Schmidt--a former Apple board member--admitted the relationship between Google and Apple became "rough" as his company began developing its Android mobile operating system. Android now commands 36 percent of the U.S. smartphone segment, far ahead of iOS at 26 percent according to new data released by The Nielsen Company. Despite the rivalry, Schmidt said Google and Apple remain good partners in certain businesses.

There is speculation Apple is at work on its own mapping initiative: In March, AppleInsider uncovered a job listing seeking an iOS Maps Application Developer to help "radically improve" Apple's location-based services. With the April 2010 release of iOS 3.2 for iPad, Apple also began relying on its own databases for location solutions alongside Google map data.

Google rakes in almost 97 percent of U.S. mobile search spending, with Yahoo and Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Bing dividing the remaining 3.2 percent, according to data issued in March by banking and investment firm Macquarie Group. Last summer, Google stated that its mobile maps solution tops 100 million users a month.

Last week, Google officially launched its much-anticipated Near Field Communications-based contactless payment platform, which comprises two complementary applications: Google Wallet and Google Offers, the latter a Groupon-like deals and discounts service going live today in Portland, Ore. Google VP of Commerce Stephanie Tilenius joined Schmidt onstage at D9 to demonstrate Google Wallet: "This is the next version of mobile commerce... 80 percent of commerce is done locally," she said, adding that Google will not charge retailers, merchants or consumers to use the wallet solution but will instead generate revenues via Google Offers.

For more:
- read this Reuters article

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