Edible Apple

Well it sure has been an interesting day for Apple legal hounds. Earlier today, Apple sued HTC for infringing on 20 of its patents that span everything from UI design down to OS architecture. A lot of people have chimed in stating that Apple’s lawsuit is more about its fight against Google’s Android OS than anything else.

So it shouldn’t be all that surprising, though it still kind of is, that Google contacted Techcrunch this evening to say that they’re lending their full support to HTC, who of course worked closely with Google to develop the hardware for the Nexus One.

“We are not a party to this lawsuit. However, we stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it,” the statement reads.

And to think, it was only a few months ago that Apple and Google were the best of friends.

You might remember that the first Android operated smartphone, the G1, reportedly didn’t support multitouch functionality specifically because Apple reportedly requested that Google not implement the feature. At the time, many assumed that Google complied because they feared Apple’s patent portfolio might be wielded at their expense. But broad multitouch functionality (such as pinch to zoom on maps) has now been turned on, and maybe not coincidentally, the factors leading to Apple’s lawsuit were set into motion.