Well we will have to see. Bing seem to be the best threat out there to Google search. I find Bing to be good enough if you want to use it but it is not enough better than Google search to really make people switch. Bing the first real threat I have seen in a long time and Google nailed MS for using Google own results to improve Bing searches and mostly made it a PR nightmare.
Google does not have a history of doing stupid law suits like Apple.
Apple current list. No matter how you cut it Apple has thrown out some pretty bad ones.
Lets see the current list.
Slide to unlock (HTC, Samsung and Nokia)
Pinch to zoom I believe was another.
Suing over a black slab.
Apple suing Amazon over "App Store"
Right now Apple is the one tossing out some pretty crazy patents against Samsung and HTC.
Well you've said it about Google. Bing threatened their core business, not by out-innovating Google, but by piggybacking off of Google. Google cried foul, rightly so, I might add. Google spent millions, if not billions, on developing their search algorithm. It stands to reason that they will fight tooth and nail to protect their investment.
As for those other examples, let me address a few. The HTC lawsuit did not involve slide to unlock. It involved a patent granted 15 years ago. The Samsung case also did not involve slide to unlock. It involved other patents.
As for "suing over a black slab," let me give you my two cents on it. With smartphones and tablets, Apple is a game-changer. Let me be the first to tell you that Apple did not INVENT the underlying technologies in either product, but no one packaged them together in the way Apple did it, which counts for something.
In both spaces, Apple did the heavy lifting. With smartphones, Apple took the risks and defied the BlackBerry cookie-cutter. Everyone laughed at the fact that the iPhone didn't have a keyboard. Today, some of the best phones on the market don't have a keyboard (e.g. HTC EVO 4G).
With tablets, it's the same story. Everyone danced with Windows XP, then Vista, then 7. Apple put out a tablet with a touch-friendly UI, which was panned as a "giant phone" in the media. They did not care to see the fact the iPad had a touch-friendly UI. They felt that full Windows was the way to go. Apple proved them wrong, if their sales numbers are anything to go off of, and now everyone is following Apple's MO-touch-optimized UI. Windows 7 tablets have all but fallen out of favor.
There is a clear pattern of events in both cases. A set of norms get defined in a particular industry. Companies in that industry design products based on those norms. Along comes Apple with their new product, which defies each and every one of those norms. The media criticizes those products. Then, Apple sells their product in record numbers. Afterwards, Apple's competitors decide to ditch the old norms and try Apple's approach. Apple' product as well as competitors' products combine to unseat products build based on old norms.
In smartphones and tablets, it was Apple that defied industry norms. They took the risks of defying industry norms. Competitors did not take those risks since Apple was able to prove that defying industry norms could be a winning strategy.
