Steve Jobs wanted to disable Google search from iPhone

At the time of his death, Steve Jobs had come to loathe Google, which he felt was copying features of the iPhone. In fact, the late Apple co-founder was so frustrated with Google, he even considered nixing Google search from the iPhone.

Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs initiated the effort to replace Google Maps on the iPhone with the firm’s own mapping application, it has emerged.

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A report by Bloomberg BusinessWeek cited Apple insiders, as saying that Jobs himself initiated the mapping project, putting mobile software chief Forstall in charge.

The report said Jobs installed a secret team on the third floor of Building 2 on Apple’s campus to replace Google Maps on the iPhone, Mashable reports.

“At the time of his death, Jobs had come to loathe Google, which he felt was copying features of the iPhone while withholding a key feature of Google Maps that allows smartphones to dictate turn-by-turn directions aloud,” the report added.

The report also said that Jobs was so frustrated with Google, a firm he reportedly vowed to wage “thermonuclear war” against, that he even considered nixing Google search from the iPhone.

But, as two former Apple execs told BusinessWeek, he backed away from this idea realizing that customers would “reject the move.”