Apple VP made 'big deal' of incident

Apple's VP of worldwide product marketing, Phil Schiller, once came into conflict with Google while visiting the latter's offices several years ago, a source claims. The executive is said to have been at the building for a meeting, and as he entered, he was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement common amongst Silicon Valley businesses. Schiller is then alleged to have made a "big deal" out of refusing, according to Silicon Alley Insider, insisting that he would either attend the meeting or sign the NDA, but not do both.

Google is believed to have relented for two main reasons. The first was Schiller's need to share information with other people in Apple marketing. The executive is also said to have argued that because Apple and Google already had a separate NDA in place, another one would be redundant.

At the time, Apple and Google are thought to have had friendly relations. The companies' partnership has since soured, however, as a result of several factors, such as Android's competition with the iPhone. App Store rules also block Google from in-app advertising, although Apple has yet to enforce the restriction.

by MacNN Staff