Google's secrets will be revealed in a book

DETAILS ABOUT GOOGLE'S poor relationships with Apple and China will be revealed in a book set for release next week.

In The Plex by Steven Levy will unveil the complex developments between Google's founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and Apple's CEO Steve Jobs, including details of Jobs' refusal to become Google CEO and how Jobs kept the Ipad a secret from Eric Schmidt, who was on Apple's board of directors at the time.

The book will show how the companies shared a strong partnership initially, with shared advisers and Jobs even agreeing to mentor Google's founders after recognising the potential of the company, which was still in its infancy.

However, when Android appeared and began to threaten the success of the Iphone, things turned sour, with Jobs feeling betrayed by his former mentees. The adage of 'the student becomes the master' comes to mind.

After Jobs revealed his fury about Android to Google's founders, accusing them of stealing features from the Iphone, there appears to have been some initiative to keep further projects secret. This led to a situation where Schmidt was oblivious to the development of the Ipad, knowledge of which could have led to Google bringing out its own tablets significantly earlier.

Tensions between Apple and Google have been mounting as Android gains more momentum, but details of exactly how Jobs felt about the situation have so far been kept under wraps. According to the book, he called Google's "don't be evil" motto "bulls**t" and questioned why Google entered the phone business when Apple didn't enter the search business, according to The Daily Mail.

The problems with China will also be revealed. Difficulties developed after Google accused China of hacking into human rights activists' Gmail accounts. The company threatened to pull out of the country and even sacked an executive at the Beijing office after Ipods were gifted to Chinese government officials, a traditional business practice that Google was no longer keen to follow.

The book will reveal that Schmidt wanted to remain in China, but was voted down. He was replaced by Larry Page as CEO last week. µ