Sundar Pichai & Tim Cook Announce Apple-Google Partnership For Tracing COVID-19 Cases

Apple and Google have joined hands to fight against the spread of the novel Coronavirus. The two tech majors, fierce competitors for a while, have come together in the wake of the ongoing bio-disaster to help develop COVID-19 contact tracker solutions and for this, the companies aim to use the bluetooth technology.

The aim is to help governments and health agencies develop technical tools to fight the COVID-19 spread. A critical element in this fight is to stop the transmission of the disease, which usually takes place by being in close proximity to anyone infected by the Coronavirus.

As per a recent post by Google, the two tech majors are now planning to tackle this issue through contact tracing. Google puts the agenda in words, ¡°To Apple and Google will be launching a comprehensive solution that includes application programming interfaces (APIs) and operating system-level technology to assist in enabling contact tracing.¡±

The solution will be implemented in two steps. First, in May, both companies will enable interoperability between Android and iOS devices through new APIs on public health authorities¡¯ apps. These apps will be available to download on both the app stores.

(L-R) Google and Apple CEO Sundar Pichai and Tim Cook

Second, Apple and Google will also work towards a ¡°Bluetooth-based contact tracing platform¡± which will come as a broader solution and one more robust than the APIs. As the Bluetooth enabled platform will be integrated into the underlying platforms, it will allow more individuals to participate and ¡°enable interaction with a broader ecosystem of apps and government health authorities.¡±

Apple and Google have also released draft technical documentation that form a part of the new-found partnership. The documentation includes Bluetooth and cryptography specifications and framework documentation.

Google stresses that the two firms will have utmost focus on privacy, transparency, and consent to make the solution secure for the users. For this, the companies will also be working with interested stakeholders, in this case ¡®users¡¯, to build the platform. They will do so by openly publishing information about the work for others to analyse.

The partnership is just one in a series of steps that the two tech firms have taken to beat the Coronavirus pandemic. Check out how the two are working towards restoring world order in the list of stories below.

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