Google, Larry Page, Steve Jobs, and Apple: a different take

The Education of Google's Larry Page - Businessweek: " . . . At the end of the conversation, Page addresses one anecdote relayed in Walter Isaacson’s best-selling biography of Steve Jobs. According to a story in that book, Page called Jobs before his death, seeking advice on how to run Google. Jobs had threatened “thermonuclear war” on Google for copying elements of the iPhone, Isaacson wrote, but put aside his animosity over Android to counsel the young CEO. Page offers a different version of those events. He says that Jobs reached out to him, not the other way around, and that when they met, in the last months of Jobs’s life, the Apple founder offered useful insights into how to run a company. Page believes that Jobs’s fury toward Google was not entirely genuine and was “actually for show.” Asked to explain, he suggests that Jobs’s apparent rage about Android was merely meant to motivate Apple employees. “For a lot of companies, it’s useful for them to really feel like they have an obvious competitor and to rally around that. I personally believe it’s better to shoot higher. You don’t want to be looking at your competitors.”. . ."

Interesting and very possible, but also note that Page concludes: "it’s better to shoot higher. You don’t want to be looking at your competitors."

While the markets are enthralled with Apple and the IPO of Facebook, it's worth noting that Google is best in class in Search, Browser (Chrome), Email (Gmail), Mobility (Android), Video (YouTube), and Advertising (Adsense etc.), with an array of additional products that appeal to a wide range of users and content creators including Google Docs, Google Voice, Google Talk, Blogger, Picasa, and now Google+ and Google Play.

No wonder Steve Jobs felt threatened.

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