Why Google Just Made iPhone King: Ads
By releasing new versions of Google Maps and Gmail for iOS this month, Google helped make the iPhone the best mobile phone on the planet. Why is Google, the owner of Android and Motorola, helping its ostensible rival? — The answer boils down to advertising.
Context & Ripple Effects
Google had been building an iPhone audience before this release: coverage pointed to a surge in iPhone traffic in 2008 and ads appearing in iPhone Maps in 2009. A 2011 account that Google wanted iPhone growth positioned iOS as a valuable distribution channel, not merely Android's rival.
The new iOS Maps and Gmail apps make that logic explicit. Google is preserving direct access to iPhone users because service usage supports its advertising business, even as Android and Motorola give it competing mobile stakes.
First-order effects
- iPhone users gain new Google Maps and Gmail options through the App Store, while Google regains direct service interfaces on iOS.
- Google's advertising business retains access to a large iPhone usage surface rather than leaving those interactions entirely to Apple's built-in services.
Second-order effects
- Android and Motorola lose some potential service exclusivity: with Google's key apps available on iOS, competition shifts more toward the device and operating-system experience than access to Google services.
Third-order effects
- If Google keeps prioritizing its services across rival platforms, mobile competition will increasingly separate ownership of the operating system from ownership of the advertising and service relationship with the user.
The trend: Google is building an access-surface portfolio in which advertising incentives justify supporting users on competing mobile platforms.