Schmidt

Four 'Schmidt' stories October 2011 - October 2013

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt on Android security: “Not secure? It’s more secure than the iPhone.”

Seth Weintraub Oct 7 2013 - 6:08 pm PT

We have a long running series on 9to5Google called “Talking Schmidt” and the Chairman of Google keeps loading it up with amusing quotes on the technology industry. Today’s comes from the Gartner Symposium where our pro/antagonist was asked by Gartner analyst David Willis about the security of Android (which has taken some hits lately to put it mildly).

To which Schmidt, without batting an eye, said:

“Not secure? It’s more secure than the iPhone.”

The comment drew laughter from the crowd, comprised largely of CIOs and high level IT personnel. Keep in mind, this is the same quote-smith who forecasted Google TV would have taken over the market last year and called the iPad just a big iPhone.
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Google’s Eric Schmidt on Android vs. Apple: ‘We’re winning that war pretty clearly now’ (Video)

Élyse Betters Dec 12 2012 - 8:04 am PT

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Google Chairman Eric Schmidt sat down with Bloomberg to talk Android vs. Apple, and the former CEO seems to think Android is leading over Apple at a rate similar to Microsoft’s growth in desktop software during the 90s.

“This is a huge platform change; this is of the scale of 20 years ago — Microsoft versus Apple,” said Schmidt to Bloomberg. “We’re winning that war pretty clearly now.”

Google cofounder Larry Page succeeded Schmidt as Google’s chief executive officer in April 2011, and now Schmidt, among many other tasks, acts as a kind of executive spokesperson for the Mountain View, Calif.-based company. During the last year alone, Schmidt talked publicly and candidly about Google’s position on free speech and privacy, the fearful repercussions of the Internet, and even robots and holographic telepresence.

During Schmidt’s hour-long interview with Bloomberg (see video above), he discussed—aside from Apple—everything from economic growth in the United States and China and tax shelters to Google+ and spectrum sharing.

Go to 9to5Google for a full breakdown of the interview.

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Google Chairman talks Maps and Apple

Jordan Kahn Oct 11 2012 - 5:32 am PT

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Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt sat down for an AllThingsD talk last night with Walt Mossberg. Among other topics, they not-surprisingly discussed Android and his thoughts on Apple. Much of the talk centered around Schmidt’s thoughts on the Android-Apple platform fight, which he called “the defining fight in the industry today.” He also noted there is a “huge race specifically between Apple and the Android platform for additional features,” and he commented on Apple’s Maps situation:

The Android-Apple platform fight is the defining contest. Here’s why: Apple has thousands of developers building for it. Google’s platform, Android, is even larger. Four times more Android phones than Apple phones. 500 million phones already in use. Doing 1.3 million activations a day. We’ll be at 1 billion mobile devices in a year.

At the 17:30 mark, Schmidt began to talk about Apple’s new Maps app controversy: “Apple should have kept with our maps”…
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Steve Jobs: “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”

Seth Weintraub Oct 20 2011 - 4:50 pm PT

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I have a feeling the next couple days are going to be busy as the Steve Jobs bio comes out in bits and pieces. Next up, according to the AP, which bought a copy Thursday (where can I get one?), Jobs had extremely harsh words for Eric Schmidt and Google after Android started looking more and more like iOS.

Isaacson wrote that Jobs was livid in January 2010 when HTC introduced an Android phone that boasted many of the touch and other popular features of the iPhone. Apple sued, and Jobs told Isaacson in an expletive-laced rant that Google’s actions amounted to “grand theft.”

“I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong,” Jobs said. “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”

Jobs used an expletive to describe Android and Google Docs, Google’s Internet-based word processing program. In a subsequent meeting with Schmidt at a Palo Alto, Calif., cafe, Jobs told Schmidt that he wasn’t interested in settling the lawsuit, the book says.

“I don’t want your money. If you offer me $5 billion, I won’t want it. I’ve got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that’s all I want.” The meeting, Isaacson wrote, resolved nothing.

So it is fair to say Jobs is not a fan of Android. While I can see why he’s upset about Android, the jab at Docs doesn’t seem to be as obvious.

But there is more…

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