The talks have purportedly been under way for weeks, per the unnamed sources. Of course, the discussions could still unravel and may not be concluded quickly. And as you could guess, Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw and Apple spokeswoman Katie Cotton declined to comment.
"Apple and Google know the other is their primary enemy," one of the sources told BusinessWeek. "Microsoft is now a pawn in that battle." Apple is also working on ways to manage ad placement on its mobile devices, a move that would encroach on Google's ad-serving business, the person said.
Of course, this raises other questions. Will Bing become the default search engine for Safari on Mac OS X and Windows? And why the move? After all, Microsoft and Apple are certainly competitors, as well, but there's Microsoft Office for the Mac. If Apple is wanting to get Google Search off the iPhone/iPod touch, things must REALLY be tense between Apple and Google.
