Google and Apple cannot seem to play nicely this week.
The behemoth multinational corporations are battling over two fast-growing trends in the tech industryโsmartphone dashboards and mobile payment systems.
Googleโs Android Auto connects Android smartphones to a carโs center screen, which allows drivers to access navigation, music and other applications without fumbling for their devices.
A few doors down, Googleโs not-so-friendly neighbor Apple is hard at work developing CarPlay, a nearly identical system for the iPhone.
According to Aaron Kessler and Brian Chen of The New York Times, both โallow for Googleโs or Appleโs operating system to essentially take over the center screen and certain buttons within the car.โ
They also both prioritize safetyโAndroid Autoโs design means that no action should take longer than two seconds, and CarPlay features Siri voice control to keep driversโ hands at ten and two.
The nemeses are also waging war over mobile payment systems.
Google Wallet launched several years before Apple Pay, but Wallet cannot compete with its rivalโs convenienceโApple Pay is embedded into Appleโs latest devices and Google Wallet requires Android owners to download and install the service.
Apple โcould become the leader is what is expected to be a booming market,โ writes AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke. โNearly 16 million U.S. consumers spent about $3.5 billion on tap-and-pay services last year.โ
To curb Appleโs early success, Google called in some unlikely reinforcements and asked that Android smartphones from AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA incorporate the payment service.
Is there enough room in these burgeoning tech markets for two? Comment below or tweet @MNetBridget
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