While most of us hate the litany of lawsuits that have become commonplace in the tech industry, one positive result has been revelations from emails, recorded transcripts, and testimonies that would have undoubtedly remained under wraps. Without the Skyhook lawsuit we wouldn’t have nearly as many details about the Android device approval process. Apple and Samsung’s lawsuit pressured Apple to reveal that despite Steve Jobs’ nuclear reaction to Android as a product, he was willing to offer a licensing deal to Samsung (probably because Samsung provides so many parts for Apple).

Like the legal battles that preceded it, the Google/Oracle lawsuit has revealed more details about both companies. For example, apparently Oracle considered entering the smartphone race by buying RIM or Palm. The more troubling revelation to come out of this lawsuit came from none other than Google’s CEO, Larry Page: “I believe Android was very important for Google. I wouldn’t say it was critical.”

During Google’s Q1 2012 earnings call that just wrapped up this afternoon, CEO Larry Page was asked a number of questions about Android and tablets. His answer to one in particular could be a bit of foreshadowing for what we will see from them in the future. As you all know, rumors of a $199 Google branded tablet have dominated the rumor mill over the last month, and Page essentially echoed the feeling that it would be incredibly successful if done right. 

“Thermonuclear war.” I believe that was the quoted distance Steve Jobs was willing to go to “right this (Android) wrong.” As it may turn out, the late Steve Job’s hate for Google’s operating system could have simply been for show. In an interview with Bloomberg’s Business Week, Google’s CEO Larry Page discussed his relationship with the late Jobs before he passed away:

I think the Android differences were actually for show. I had a relationship with Steve. I wouldn’t say I spent a lot of time with him over the years, but I saw him periodically. Curiously enough, actually, he requested that meeting. He sent me an e-mail and said: “Hey, you want to get together and chat?” I said, “Sure, I’ll come over.” And we had a very nice talk. We always did when we had a discussion generally.

He was quite sick. I took it as an honor that he wanted to spend some time with me. I figured he wanted to spend time with his family at that point. He had a lot of interesting insights about how to run a company and that was pretty much what we discussed.

We can imagine Steve being quite worked up over something like Android in the beginning, but I think near the end, Jobs had more important things on his mind besides blowing all of Apple’s cash on destroying Android. Now that Apple has a new healthy and fearless leader in Tim Cook, we can look forward to future lawsuits and drama surrounding these two tech giants.

What is your take on it? Could Jobs’ hate for the Android OS been partially exaggerated to sell some books?

Via: Bloomberg

Moments ago on Google’s Q3 earnings call, CEO Larry Page dropped a quote that should spark an entertaining conversation in the comments. He said, “You won’t believe what we managed to get done in this release.“ While we have seen parts of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) through a couple of leaked videos, you get the feeling that the Android team is going to surprise the hell out of us with something.

Care to take a guess at what he is referring to? We know that ICS will bring a Honeycomb-like UI to phones that lacks physical buttons, but what else are you expecting to see? Full Google+ integration? New features built into the stock camera app? A better voice-to-talk app like Apple’s Siri? A built-in bloody mary machine?

It will all become official next Tuesday night, but we would love to hear your thoughts now.