Google Switches to iPhone OS for Android Phones: An April Fools' Joke

What the joke claimed

The spoof said Google had announced it would let its Android devices adopt iPhone OS. It began with the Nexus One and was supposed to extend to the whole line of HTC handsets. The stated reason was that the change would finally give those phones multitouch, along with access to Apple’s App Store.

The made-up conversation

The piece included an invented exchange between the heads of Apple and Google, filled with absurd side topics such as new trousers and puppies. It also mentioned a free music CD handed over at the end. None of it was a real quote, and the details were clearly written to be silly rather than believable.

The software the joke referred to

The spoof named iPhone OS 3.2 and said the Nexus One would soon enjoy the App Store. In reality, Android and iPhone OS were separate systems, and nobody ported one onto the other devices in the way described. The final line of the post pointed to a tutorial, which was part of the gag and is not reproduced here.

Status today

The Nexus One and iPhone OS 3.2 are both long obsolete. The post remains only as an example of the kind of April Fools’ content tech sites ran at the time.