Following the emergence of a video that showcased Google Now for iOS and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt hinting at Apple playing a role in disapproving apps on being asked about Google Now for iOS, Apple has confirmed that the Google Now app has not been submitted to its App Store.
The company told technology news focused website,
CNET that the said app had never been submitted for approval. Google also came out with a confirmation that it has never submitted the Google Now app, later in the day.
Last week, a
video demonstrating Google Now for iPhone and iPad had surfaced online. The video demonstrated Google Now functionality through the Google Search iOS app. The credibility of the video had not been established but it detailed the various features offered by Google now complete with the cards interface for traffic updates, flight information, currency conversion and translation, game scores, and nearby attractions. However, like we said earlier, it cannot be ruled out that the video might be part of some cancelled project or just a fanboy created fake. But Google chose to stay mum on the matter till the moderator fired a question to Eric Schmidt at the Google Big Tent Summit about the availability of the app. In a rather cryptic
response (17:50 on the video), he said,"You'll need to discuss that with Apple. "Apple has a policy of approving or disapproving apps that are submitted into its store, and some of the apps we make they approve and some of them they don't."
For the uninitiated, 'Google Now', is a voice based information assistant and an extension of Google search. You can ask questions and the tool returns answers or search results. It uses 'cards' which are essentially small boxes that offer different sets of contextual information ranging from weather forecast, directions, traffic information, scores, appointments, and currency conversion, among others. Google Now collects information based on the user's behaviour, location and even e-mail to offer information, automatically.