I don't think it's a patent issue. Too many other companies are using multi-touch in their products and it's a weak patent to start off with. I would guess that

I don't think it's a patent issue. Too many other companies are using multi-touch in their products and it's a weak patent to start off with. I would guess that Eric Schmidt's involvement as a member of Apple's boar of directors and Google's involvement providing services for the iPhone starting in 2007, presumably as one of the first outside parties to see it, are the real problem here. Google must have realized how far ahead Apple was. They looked at the other companies in that space and figured Apple was a company they were ideologically compatible with. They were happy to offer search/maps on a product they could see was going to be a game changer. As a result they may have signed some non-competes to get on the iPhone early, or at least fear that Eric Schmidt's past involvement at Apple is a major legal risk and are playing it safe. It is a bit evil to be on the board of directors of one company, have a partnership with them, and turn around and use all the same technologies in your own product a year later. I imagine there are some sunsets on whatever arrangement Apple & Google have or Google, out of their own sense of fairness, is simply not pushing the issue yet. I wouldn't be surprised if the Google Voice/iPhone issue isn't related here somehow. My guess is neither company is all that unhappy about the prospects of being the two dominant players in the SmartPhone industry in the future. They are very ideologically compatible companies. Apple poses no real threat to Google's core business, Google poses no real threat to Apple's core business. It's certainly a better arrangement than competing against Microsoft who is known to play dirty and is a more direct competitor to both companies in more ways.