Apple obviously feels like Google stole the basics behind the iPhone away from them and it certainly seems obvious from the way Android was announced by Google so soon afterwards and then Google's member of Apple's Board of Directors left that board. Whether or not iOS and Android are different, the emergence of a mobile Android OS coming so quickly after the mobile OS X is a coincidence too obvious to ignore. Apple's--or rather, Steve Jobs'--anti-Android war simply won't allow Google to play in the same ball park any longer than necessary. Now we'll just have to see what Apple does post-Jobs.

Meanwhile, I really can't see Google just sitting aside and letting Android fade away. We've already seen some moves that imply Google's intent to rein in control of Android and at least bring it to a capability similar to Windows, where the OEMs continue to manufacture hardware but no longer can extensively modify the user interface. What we don't know is how well Google will manage its efforts in taking back control from the OEMs and carriers themselves.