Google and Apple: Formidable Healthcare Foes?

They are the consummate frenemies—the tech world’s version of Churchill and Stalin (or Siskel and Ebert on their better days).
Like most rivals, Apple and Google have maintained a cool but generally civil public facade over the years. The pair, of course, has never been—nor will they ever be—the best of friends: Their relationship is too thorny, their strategies are too similar and the stakes are too high.

Even their rare attempts at fraternization appear forced and superficial, much like the well-hyped Yalta Conference of 1945. Consider for a moment the fiasco that ensued from the cross-pollination of former Google CEO and current Executive Chairman Eric E. Schmidt, Ph.D., who joined Apple’s board of directors in August 2006.

When the iPhone debuted in early 2007, the two Silicon Valley heavyweights seemed to have buried the hatchet. Steve Jobs, in fact, spoke sincerely (graciously, even) about working with Google to deliver maps, YouTube, email and search services on the new mobile device. “It’s the internet in your pocket,” he said at the phone’s MacWorld 2007 unveiling. “You can’t think about the internet, of course, without thinking about Google. What we have on our phone is Google search, built right into the browser and Google Maps. We’ve been working very closely with them [Google] to make this all happen and we’re thrilled with the results…”

Jobs’ delight, however, was short-lived. The two companies began sparring again after Google launched its Android operating system in 2008. Livid that his iPhone partner encroached on Apple’s turf, Jobs reportedly declared “thermonuclear war” against Android, triggering an embittered four-year battle over smartphone technology patents that ended only last month with both sides agreeing to drop all lawsuits and work together toward patent reform.

With the bromance gone between them, Apple and Google have since retreated to opposite sides of the mobile technology sandbox, harboring all-too familiar feelings of mistrust, trepidation and ill will. Yet the two could become unlikely partners again as they vie for a piece of the lucrative healthcare pie.

Last fall, Google created a biotechnology company called Calico to undertake the Herculean problems of aging and age-related diseases. Apple Chairman Arthur D. Levinson, Ph.D., chairman and former CEO of Genentech, is Calico’s CEO and a founding investor.

“Art and I are excited about tackling aging and illness,” Google co-founder Larry Page said in his formal announcement of Calico. “These issues affect us all… It’s impossible to imagine anyone better than Art—one of the leading scientists, entrepreneurs and CEOs of our generation—to take this new venture forward.”

Levinson may be ideal for the job, but his trifecta of executive hats (Calico CEO, Apple and Genentech board chairman) potentially could prompt history to repeat itself. Still, it’s a risk worth taking: Levinson’s connections in the biotechnology sector could help Google gain valuable market share in the wearable computing space, thereby enabling the global colossus to further diversify its offerings and compete amid the growing number of non-healthcare crossovers infiltrating the industry.

“Cisco Systems, Microsoft, IBM, and [NTT] Docomo all feel the destiny of their companies is tied to healthcare. Software is increasingly being built into medical devices, and there is wearable and implantable sensor technology available not for compliance, but for the maintenance of people’s health,” Stephen N. Oesterle, M.D., senior vice president for Medicine and Technology at Medtronic Inc., said at a recent medical conference. “All of this is going to lead to better, cheaper healthcare in the future. The answer isn’t building more hospitals. We have to give people better access to healthcare and help cure them of chronic diseases. That’s possible through wearable and implantable technology. Google is all over this. Our biggest adversary at Medtronic is not Boston Scientific or St. Jude Medical. It’s Google.”

Indeed, Google’s deviation from the plateauing smartphone market is making traditional medtech manufacturers extremely nervous. The search giant has been experimenting with smart medical devices for several years, but its latest effort—a contact lens for diabetics that measures glucose levels from their tears—shows some promise. Google is testing the lens’ ability to synchronize wirelessly with a mobile device, similar to Johnson & Johnson’s OneTouch Verio Sync Meter (approved in March 2013).

Though it currently is experimental, Google’s smart contact lens nevertheless represents the company’s intention to leapfrog past the current generation of medical devices into disruptive technology.

Google’s vision, however is not unique. Consumer electronics firms like Apple and the telecommunication behemoths of Verizon, Motorola, Qualcomm and AT&T are testing the healthcare waters as well. Apple reportedly has hired a handful of medtech experts to develop its rumored iWatch wearable device, while Verizon won U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for software that collects data from patient devices and transmits them to a secure cloud on a real-time basis. Meanwhile Qualcomm has established a $100 million venture fund that has invested in mHealth companies such as AliveCor, Fitbit and AirStrip Technologies.

“These companies are going to become increasingly intertwined in the practice of medicine,” noted Robert C. Robbins, M.D., president and CEO of the Texas Medical Center in Houston. “Google and these other companies are going to leverage the technology that’s out there to take care of patients. Doctors are in the profession to take care of patients. That’s what they love. If they can leverage Google, Apple, or some other company in the practice of medicine, why wouldn’t they?”