I think they'd have to have a pretty good reason to modify the front end for Google or alike. With Apple's close partnership with Google maybe it'd just be an extension for google from Spotlight?

This is what I see:

1. Apple has a fantastic design team.
2. Google has by far the best search engine technology.
3. Google has a really boring interface.
4. Spotlight has a good interface, but opening a Safari history item just launches Safari, which reveals it in the Finder.
5. Spotlight does not have any web integration.
6. Apple gets money from Google search and branding throughout their systems.

I think that Apple may either be building a custom front end to Google, or integrating it into Spotlight. More likely than either, however, is them building a custom front end for Google on the iPhone.

Anybody else having flashbacks to that old app "Sherlock"?
Discontinued in Leopard (which saddened me - I used it a lot)

Now that you guys bring up the Google partnership, I can definitely see this being pulled off.

Google is the best search engine out there so far, but it just uses text. If Apple could pull off something with a less verbal, more visual approach, this venture would be huge!

I know it sounds stupid... but just think for a second how ¨goople¨ (Apple + Google) could be the most powerful company EVER.
the only thing they would have left is to buy:
Sony
Bose

and when theyll have enough money, buy microsoft as well!

If they aren't, then why say they are in the headline??

The App Store is need for a good search. I can very much see a more powerful search than the title and description text search that exists right now. Apps are going by the hundreds if not the thousands every month. It's a natural fit. Oh yeah, how about advertising in those search results. :)

The last line of the article tells me you don't know what you're talking about ("You can’t do it without people who know what they’re doing."). The Feds do "it" all the time with people who don't have a clue as to what they're doing.

Is this really far-fetched? If Apple and Google are so synergistic, then why is Google spending a ton of capital and resources on something called Android? What planet are you people living on commenting on their love for each other? Right now, it's just business, but they both know they can't rely on each other.

Google is worried Apple is getting too powerful and can start their own search engine, as Apple is all too familiar of trying to close its doors on making money off of Apple products (examples include rejecting application on the App Store that directly compete with or mimic core Apple features or planned features).

Apple is worried that if they rely too heavily on Google, and there's no competition in the search market, what's to keep them from jacking their prices in the future? Plus, why collect ad-partnership commissions when you can collect the entire ad fee by having your own search engine?

The only reason Google and Apple are working together right now is business, and they're both competing with Microsoft. But Android is a direct slap in the face to Apple's iPhone OS. There were even quite specific comments made from one another.

As for hiring search experts and engineers, how would big companies know? Especially with NDA's and such. They could also be hiring fresh grads and others in related fields to take a different approach instead of common industry standards to differentiate themselves. They could also acquire a search company like http://www.cuil.com/ and be working on how to integrate it and have the "product(s)" ready before announcing the acquisition, which would send of flags to all their competitors. They may even be looking into buying Yahoo (which could have been one of Microsoft's reasons to attempt to buy Yahoo, or say the were interested in doing so, also).

http://netcrime.itproportal.com/articles/2008/11/16/5-reasons-why-apple-...