It’s no secret. Facebook and Google don’t like each other. And that’s understandable. They’re each other’s biggest threat.
But, in the past, the companies have always played nice with each other. Said nice things about each other’s offering. Maintained the idea of “reciprocity” within their relationship. But, when either party feels like they’re getting the short end of that straw, they make their anger public. And as the fight for the #1 consumer data company in the world quickly becomes a two-man show, the two men are getting a little more defensive.
Specifically with the introduction of Facebook e-mail, Facebook has decided not to play nice with Google, the makers of Gmail, anymore. In fact, Facebook is no longer letting you find new friends on Facebook via your Gmail address book – at least not without making it difficult.
The question is, will making your product more difficult to integrate with the other really hurt the other company, or will these petty antics just anger your own customers?