You know, the conspiracy theorist in me thinks it's possible that Schmidt wanted to force Apple's hand. Now Apple have no choice but to approve the app despite the fact that it probably does replicate some functionality already built into iOS through Siri.
The Google Now app on Android is probably one of the best crafted, smoothest experiences i have seen, no comparison to the crappy facebook app. So, let's hope it will have a similar quality on iOS! :)
Either way, all signs point to Google Now showing up in the app store soon. Google (via Eric Schmidt's evidently mistaken comments) wouldn't say this if it wasn't at least ready to go, and Apple probably wouldn't comment now if they weren't going to let it in.
How does releasing an iOS version of Google Now benefit Google?<p>Edit: Don't downvote me, I really want to know. It seems to me that Apple is Google's main competitor in the smartphone business. Why would Google give Google Now away to Apple, when it's currently something that give Android an edge over iOS?
But Eric Schmidt did not say that the app was submitted:<p><i>“You’ll need to discuss that with Apple” (at around 17:50). “Apple has a policy of approving or disapproving apps that are submitted into its store, and some of them they approve and some of them they don’t,”</i><p>(via <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/21/googles-eric-schmidt-says-the-ball-is-in-apples-court-for-google-now-on-iphone-and-ipad/" rel="nofollow">http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/21/googles-eric-schmidt-says-t...</a>)