Fred Vogelstein, the author of Dogfight: How Apple and Google Went to War and Started a Revolution, continues to track the two rivals closely, and is often asked for his views on the ferocious rivalry between Apple and Google.

Is history repeating itself?

It’s starting to look very similar to the fight that Apple had with Microsoft in the 1980s, which was that ultimately the best way to get control of the market is to distribute the software to as many different manufacturers as you possibly can,” Fred said in an interview with the CBC’s Lang & O’Leary Exchange. Watch the interview.

What does it take to change the world?

What took me by surprise was just how incredibly hard it is to do what you guys do,” Fred told an audience at Microsoft Research. “Creating products that actually change the world is not just a job, it’s actually kind of a quest, and it’s not a straight line by any stretch of the imagination.” Watch the discussion.

Were Apple and Google ever really friends?

Going back to 2006, Apple and Google were not only friends, they were sort of the yin and yang of the technology world,” Fred tells listeners of San Francisco-based KQED’s Forum. “In the early days of Google when its VC’s were pressuring Larry and Sergei to hire a more seasoned CEO…they said quite publicly the only person they would consider would be Steve Jobs.” Listen to the discussion.

What are they really fighting about?

What they are really fighting about is the future of television,” Fred tells David Hyde of Seattle’s KUOW. Smartphones are now portable TV’s in consumers’ pockets, and both companies are eyeing bigger roles in entertainment content distribution. “Together they have $200 billion in cash – half the value of all Hollywood,” Fred says. Listen to the interview.

What’s one of the worst jobs in Silicon Valley?

Fred tells the hosts of MSNBC’s The Cycle about the striking cultural differences between the two companies. “One of the worst jobs in Silicon Valley still is being a marketer at Google,” he says, noting that the second most-powerful leader at Apple is designer Jony Ive. Watch below, or see it on the network’s site.

Who got hammered while Jobs showed off the iPhone?

Steve Jobs insisted on live demos at product announcements, making everyone involved very nervous. At the 2007 launch of the iPhone, then far from finished, “a handful of engineers were sitting in the fifth row doing shots of Scotch,” Fred tells Bloomberg TV’s Cory Johnson. “By the end of the announcement they were not only elated that it had gone well, but they were also hammered.” See the interview.

Can Apple and Android co-exist?

Iwould like to believe they can coexist and I can make an argument that they will find a way, because ultimately it will be better for consumers and for innovation in general,” Fred tells San Jose’s metroactive.com. “But the history of technology makes a very powerful counterargument. The history of technology over the last 20 years suggests it probably won’t work like that.” Read the interview.

What makes the fight so fierce?

This fight is fierce and it’s getting more fierce,” Fred explains on Reuters’ Breakingviews program. “They’ve come to realize this isn’t just a fight about who’s got the latest coolest gadget. This is a fight who’s going to control not just the tech world but the media world as well.” Watch the discussion.

 Who ultimately wins?

Ultimately I think that Google is going to win because Steve Jobs is no longer alive,” Fred tells Cult of Mac. “Apple’s success over the last fifteen years has been predicated on the company’s ability to take enormous risks. The iPod, the iPhone, the iPad were all bet-the-company kinds of decisions. Only a founder within an organisation has the credibility to take risks like that.” Read the interview.

What could stop Google?

Trying to predict antitrust action is harder than trying to predict the weather,” Fred tells TechCrunch’s Andrew Keen. Antitrust is as much an economic and political as technical and legal discussion, he observes. “Whether or not somebody goes after Google for antitrust will depend on the administration in Washington and it will depend on the government’s ability to rally public support to take Google on.” Watch the conversation.