After years at the top, Apple’s brand appeal suddenly appears eclipsed by Google.

That seems a shame, considering Apple ships products while Google ships vapour ware products, results based on other people’s content, and advertising.

Might it be connected with the fact that Google News is the world’s main conduit for general news information these days, and Google controls the algorithms which decide the sites who get the traffic, and what sort of stories it will dispense that traffic (and their business), too?

If only the algorithms used in Google News were transparently available to check by members of the public and anti-trust officials eager to determine if they contained the kind of pro-Google, anti-competitive bias I’m proposing might be possible.

Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time the company has used search results to favour its own business above others, but in this case all I can do is ask the question: “Has Google gone thermonuclear?”