Google is slowly cracking "open" iOS

It seems odd to me that so many blogs are commenting that Chrome being the #1 iOS download today is some kind of global indication of the need to open iOS to Android-like levels of user customization.<p>Not wanting nor willing to get into the merits of that idea overall, but doesn't it strike anyone other than me as obvious that it's the #1 app for iOS today because it came out yesterday with much fanfare, it's free, and it's something most everyone is aware of and would want to play with?<p>An unofficial poll here in my office shows that everyone who downloaded it here did so to, in so many words, "play with it and see what it's like", though nobody yet has stated that they intend to replace their browser use with it.<p>While it's nice that you can get as much of the Google ecosystem on your iOS device as you can, I'm really not sure that the availability of that ecosystem on iOS is any sort of indication of the necessity of opening up iOS to embrace that ecosystem.<p>In other words, "If you want Android, you know where to find it."

Apple doesn't care what icons are on the home screen as long as that home screen is on an iOS device, because the device is where they make their money. I doubt Apple is losing sleep because I don't use their mail app.<p>The more revealing take-away from people having iPhone home screens full of Google apps is why they aren't using an Android phone.

I don't see why Apple is so reticent on this. They wouldn't lose anything by letting users replace most default apps.<p>Of course, they can't allow the replacement of the App Store and continue with their current model but a user that already owns an iPhone and replaces the Mail app or web browser doesn't hurt Apple in any way. They'd probably even have more people buy iPhones (and make 30% on the sale of paid replacement apps). I fear it's because of their compulsion to control the experience from A to Z.<p>(disclaimer: I own an iPhone 4, iPad 2 and MacBook Pro)<p>I'd wager that some sort of (limited) "intent"-like mechanism is coming in a future iOS down the road, although not 6 and probably not 7.

Does anyone know how Apple is able to get away with this, when Microsoft was under so much antitrust litigation in the late 90s for simply bundling their internet browser?

I wonder whether this is a strategy by Google or simply an organic result of their services spreading to other platforms?