It has become obvious in the last several years that Apple is, first and foremost, a device manufacturer, and their flirtation with software (OS X, iLife, Logic, etc.) is borne as an extension of their inventive nature. In other words, Apple doesn’t necessarily want to be a software company, but they need to be.  It just so happens that they’re probably the best software company in the world (in recent years anyway).

So how is it that you come to be the best at something that isn’t your core business, just so you core business can flourish?   Well, you avoid the pattern exhibited by Microsoft–cut into as many markets as possible while clutching onto second-rate products (Live Search) and outmoded business models (XBox Live).  Ultimately this will mean that Apple’s failures over the years–their poor product offerings like .Mac–were things that they wisely dumped instead of clinging stubbornly onto like Redmond always seems to do.

Apple recognizes that–when THEY put out a crap service like .Mac–they have to cut their losses. Hence no more .Mac.  Ultimately, the same will be true of Mobile Me, when Google and its ilk replace every feature of Mobile Me with something better. And then, Apple will likely dump Mobile Me rather than try to compete in an area where they aren’t wanted and can’t do better.

This is why Apple won’t embrace Live Search. If they’re willing to cut their own failed initiatives and recognize that somebody else can do something better (Google Sync, anyone?), then why in the world would they embrace Live Search.

Snow Leopard or not, I don’t expect a Microsoft/Apple search alliance.