Horace Deido at Asymco.com, talking about the relationship between Apple and Google, and how it is more complicated than the "enemies at war" description that can be tempting to apply;

The concept of “co-belligerence” may describe the relationship [between Google and Apple]: The state of fighting against a common adversary without a formal alliance and without a guarantee of non-agression against each other.

The common adversary is the telecom industry. It’s an industry being undermined by the technological change of mobile computing and its profits are up for grabs. Apple and Google have different approaches in implementing this change but in the end they dismantle and absorb profits from the same target.

Juxtapose that with Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft) at the GSMA Mobile World Congress last week, , where he said he wanted Windows Phone 7 to be "the most operator-friendly phone system in the world."

While Apple strives to be consumer-friendly (because it's worth paying for), and Google strives to be consumer-friendly (because it attracts eyeballs that can be monetised through advertising), it will be interesting to see where Microsoft's business-friendly approach takes them.