President Donald J. Trump shakes hands with Apple CEO Tim Cook following his tour of the assembly line at the Apple Manufacturing Plant Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019, at Flextronics International LTD-Austin Product Introduction Center. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
Politico’s Leah Nylen and Mohanan Ravindranath explain the teaming up between tech giants Apple and Google against COVID-19. they write:
Apple and Google announced Friday that they are teaming up on a major effort to help health officials trace coronavirus exposure risks, in a rare alliance between two huge rivals whose software dominates the market for mobile devices.
The companies said they would make technology available by mid-May that would use Bluetooth on people’s phones to detect when people have come into contact with individuals diagnosed with the virus. The feature would be designed to work with apps by public health authorities on devices that run Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.
In the coming months, the companies said they would roll out an update that would embed the technology into the iOS and Android operating systems, which are used on about 99 percent of smartphones globally. The change would apply to all versions of Google’s Android released since late 2015.
President Donald Trump gave the big tech companies’ announcement a cautious welcome, while nodding to some of the potential civil liberties pitfalls.
“It’s very interesting, but a lot of people worry about it in terms of a person’s freedom,” Trump told reporters at a White House briefing Friday afternoon. “We’re going to take a look at that, a very strong look at it.”
