Email of Steve Jobs’ Commitment to ‘Holy War’ Against Google Surfaces

Fighting with Google wasn’t a business rivalry; it was a “holy war” for Steve Jobs, Apple’s former CEO and co-founder. The details come from an email Steve Jobs sent to the company’s 100 top employees outlining discussion points for a forthcoming meeting, and that included an important line: “2011: Holy War with Google.” (via WSJ)

In other talking points, Jobs said “Apple is in danger of hanging on to old paradigm for too long (innovator’s dilemma)” and “Google and Microsoft are further along on the technology” to connect and synchronize contacts, calendars, photos, music, videos and bookmarks across all devices using online services.

The email reveals that Steve Jobs realized the threat Google’s Android meant for iOS. You may recall that Jobs said that Android was a stolen product and promised to go “thermonuclear war” against it and use every penny of the $40 billion the company had in the bank back then.

Since the information was uncovered by Samsung’s lawyer on the first day of the second round of the Apple vs. Samsung trial, they had a single scope, to highlight a key point in Samsung’s strategy, and that is: Apple’s real fight is with Google.

Of course, Apple’s lawyers have disputed the claim, asking the jurors not to be misled by Samsung’s claims that four of the five patents Samsung products infringe upon are features that Google developed independently as part of Android. Apple strongly disagrees with that.

And this is just the beginning of a month-long legal fight between the two tech giants. Be ready for more.