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No Multitouch on Nexus One ‘A Gentlemen’s Agreement’ with Apple

Google’s newly released Nexus One has received mixed reviews from the tech press, but one of the key questions for the so-called ‘iPhone Killer’ was the reason for its apparent lack of multitouch capabilities.

According to a source working on the handset’s innards, multitouch is indeed supported on the Nexus One’s Android API’s. The decision not to implement the feature in the handset’s core UI and applications was the result of a board-level ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ between Google and Apple.

Google in fact agreed to forego using multitouch in their core UI in exchange for Apple maintaining a high visibility for Google’s apps and services on their iPhone.

What this means in practice, is that there is nothing stopping third party developers from using multitouch in their own Nexus One applications. Whether this gentlemen’s agreement holds in the face of Apple’s ongoing move away from Google’s apps (on Mapping, for example) is anybody’s guess.