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Weee, Googlapple!

In the last couple of days, a lot of blogs have reported that Eric Schmidt (Google CEO) mentioned that Google and Apple were working together “on a lot of things”.

Obviously, there’s Google Maps integration in the upcoming iPhone. MacOS 10.4 includes a Google Dashboard Widget. There’s a Google Mac team already. Nothing exciting, really. Therefore, most blogs (and the comments) recommend to stay calm about the announcement and not expect too much.

However, the first thing that came to my mind when reading the announcement was (drum roll) Google Video/YouTube and iTunes integration! Wouldn’t it be great? Obviously, after having acquired YouTube last year, Google basically owns video distribution over the Internet now, and it owns all the user-created content as well. Apple doesn’t have anything comparable, do they? Well, they have podcasts! On YouTube, you can already subscribe to a series of videos by a certain user much in the same way as a video podcast or vlog works. Remember that the inclusion of podcasts into iTunes wasn’t something that everybody would have expected either, and it’s quite obvious that user-generated content being available via iTunes would fit in well with the “iLife”, “media hub” and “multi-purpose iTunes” (you know, there’s lectures, WWDC sessions and whatnot on iTunes already) strategies Apple is currently pursuing.

Additionally, there’s lots of paid content on Google Video as well, and while I’ve never bought something there as of yet, I may occasionally succumb to an impulse purchase if I’m able to do so with the cool one-click iTunes purchasing experience. In fact, the vast install-base of iTunes could really help the paid content take off, especially when considering that the recently introduced Apple TV would enable consumers to watch the content on the big screen. Doesn’t it all come together nicely?

Additionally, iTunes integration would most certainly also mean Front Row integration. It would be incredibly cool to be able to watch YouTube and Google Video, uhm, videos this way. For example, I have a Mac Mini hooked up to my TV and frequently copy movies from those websites over to it to watch them in Front Row (No, I’m not that decadent, the Mini is also my Intel testing machine). Watching the online movie trailers on the TV screen is an awesome experience, and a great time waster in case you’re bored. I can envision how this could work with user-supplied content, too. For example, it would make sense to define “smart, auto-updated playlists” that work on tagging information and the such to define “channels” that auto-update with the latest, matching videos. They could be conveniently watched on your Apple TV or in Front Row then. Doesn’t it make perfect sense?

You heard it here first!