With only a few days to go before Microsoft unveils its new duo of flagship smartphones that will bear the banner for Windows 10 Mobile, it's not surprising that a flurry of rumors have begun circulating online to take advantage of the hype leading up to the event.
The latest rumor to surface points to a major collaboration between Google and Microsoft to merge Mountain View's suite of popular apps, including Hangouts, YouTube, Google Voice and Google Play Music, with Redmond's Windows 10 operating system. In fact, a Google spokesperson is reportedly scheduled to appear at Microsoft's Oct. 6 event to make the announcement.
The rumor, which was first discovered by a Redditor, comes from a relatively unknown website W4PHub.com, so there is actually no knowing how reliable it is. As with every report that banks on unverifiable reports, we suggest to take this one with a huge helping of salt.
That said, plenty of signs point to a partnership between Google and Microsoft, which have long been known to be major rivals offering products and services that compete directly with each others, including search engines, productivity tools and mobile operating systems, among many others.
Just last Wednesday, Sept. 30, both companies agreed to drop the 20 patent lawsuits they filed against each other, signaling what could be the end of an era of grudges long-held by CEOs Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella's predecessors. In a joint statement released by the companies, Google and Microsoft announced they were looking forward to joint projects in the future, one of which could be the integration of Google's Play Store into Windows 10 Mobile.
"Google and Microsoft have agreed to collaborate on certain patent matters and anticipate working together in other areas in the future to benefit our customers," the statement says.
Under Nadella, Microsoft has transformed from an aging giant that wants to crush the competition to a friendly partner that sees collaboration instead of competition as the primary route to success. At Apple's launch event for iOS 9 in September, Microsoft product manager Kirk Koenigsbauer appeared onstage to demonstrate Office for iPad for Apple's new 12.9-inch iPad Pro. It would no longer come as a surprise, therefore, if Microsoft did indeed announced a similar partnership with Google.
The bigger surprise, perhaps, would be Google's reported 360-degree turn on its stance about Windows 10. Considering the rapid adoption rate of Windows 10, it would be perilous for Google to ignore the generally positive reception of the operating system.
