Apple and Google square off

How times have changed. What was once mainly a competition between Microsoft and Apple for the hearts and wallets of desktop and laptop users has morphed into a battle for supremacy in burgeoning smartphones and tablet computers. And onetime chum Google is shaping up as Apple's leading rival. Microsoft is mostly an also-ran in those markets, certainly next to Apple, Google and, in the case of phones, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion.

• Smartphones. Android has been out for less than two years, yet in the first quarter edged out the iPhone for second place in smartphone sales after market-leading BlackBerry, according to market research firm the NPD Group. Market share is down 12% for phones based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile software, which is in the process of its own total overhaul later this year.
• Tablets. Apple expanded beyond traditional computers with the iPad touch-screen tablet that is taking the world by storm. Meanwhile, Google's Android and Chrome will power a series of tablets and netbook computers later in the year. Microsoft has touted tablets for years, but its pen- or stylus-based machines haven't even sniffed the kind of mass-market success Apple is generating with the iPad. At last week's Wall Street Journal All Things D conference, Jobs suggested that tablets will ultimately replace more traditional desktop computers and laptops, though how soon and to what extent remains to be seen.
• TV/media viewing. Google recently announced Google TV, a new initiative to bring the Internet to the television. It is working with companies such as Sony and Logitech on new TVs, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes that will open up websites on your TV screen as seamlessly as TV channels. To date, no product in the category (think Boxee, Roku, TiVo) has seen huge numbers, and that includes Apple TV. Microsoft introduced an "extender" product a few years ago to run PC video on TVs, but it never took off.
• Advertising. Mobile advertising is shaping up as a new battleground. Google dominates mobile advertising with its AdWords subsidiary and recent $750 million purchase of AdMob, a company that delivers ads to mobile customers. Apple, which had bid for AdMob, purchased smaller firm Quattro Wireless and recently announced the formation of a new unit, iAds, to compete with Google.