eric schmidt

Google's Eric Schmidt is a very busy man.

But he still found the time to interview fellow political philosopher Stephen Colbert, when the latter appeared at Google this week.

Indeed, Schmidt even found the time to post a chunk of the escapade onto his Google+ account. (The full hour has been posted to YouTube and I have embedded it at the bottom of this post.)

You might imagine that Colbert would be au fait with all of Google's services before presenting himself before an audience of Googlies.

But, no.… Read more

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt believes that Android's war with iOS is just about over -- and that his team won.

Speaking to Bloomberg in an interview published this morning, Schmidt said Android's ongoing market-share battle with Apple's iOS "is of the scale of 20 years ago -- Microsoft versus Apple." He went on to say that in his opinion, "we're winning that war pretty clearly now."

It might be difficult to argue with Schmidt's point. Research firm IDC reported last month that during the third quarter, Android shipments accounted for 75 percent of the worldwide market. … Read more

Hard to believe that at one time in the not-very-distant past, Apple's board of directors included one Eric Schmidt, at the time the chief executive of Google.

Of course, Schmidt's stint as a board member came to an end in 2009 as Google began to more directly compete against Apple. The ensuing war of words between the companies shows little ebb, and in an interview with The Wall Street Journal today, Schmidt, now Google's executive chairman, used the occasion to gob-smack Apple around just a bit, contrasting the way the two companies manage their business decisions.

Alluding … Read more

Eric Schmidt's treatise on the future will soon be hitting bookshelves.

Alfred A. Knopf said today that the book by Google's executive chairman and his co-author, Google Ideas director Jared Cohen, will be published on April 23.

The book, which aims to walk readers through the ways technology is changing the future, will be called "The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business." The title suggests a slightly broader scope than did the working title of the book: "Empire of the Mind: The Dawn of the Techno-Political Age."

Knopf said … Read more

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Few Silicon Valley companies have ever embraced a political party as passionately as Google has. Its executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, has been described as a "kind of guru" to President Obama's campaign manager, and Google employees emerged as the No. 2 donor to the Democratic National Committee in the last election.

That love affair has now become a bit one-sided. Obama's pick to run the Federal Trade Commission, Jon Leibowitz, a Democrat and former aide to Democratic senators, has been carefully preparing a legal assault on the search company.

Leibowitz took the unusual … Read more

The world has never seen a platform fight like the one now under way between iOS and Android, Google's executive chairman said Wednesday evening in New York.

"The Android-Apple platform fight is the defining fight in the industry today," Eric Schmidt said in an interview with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.

Without naming his source, Schmidt said Google had "seen" surveys indicating that four Android devices sold for every Apple device. Within a year, he said, it's conceivable that there will be a billion devices running on Android.

The sheer volume of mobile device … Read more

"Apple has learned that maps are hard," Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt calmly stated, without smirking, during an interview with All Things D hosts Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the 92nd Street Y in New York Wednesday evening. He added that Google had spent over five years investing in its map app, while Apple has been in catch-up mode. "Apple should have kept our maps," Schmidt said. "They're better maps."

He added, "We invested hundred of millions of dollars in satellite work, airplane work, drive-by work, and we think we have … Read more

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt says his company and Apple are friendly, despite some evidence to the contrary.

Speaking to reporters in South Korea today, Schmidt said Apple "is actually a very good partner" of Google's. According to the Korea Times, which was first to report on his comments, Schmidt went on to say that his company and Apple "are literally talking all the time about everything."

Before long, however, the conversation turned to Apple's ongoing legal war with Android vendors, including Samsung and Google-owned Motorola. Schmidt didn't say too much, according to … Read more

Samsung's Shin Jong-kyun will meet with Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt in Seoul tomorrow, and it's a safe bet the topic of Apple will come up.

The Samsung Mobile chief confirmed today that he will meet with Schmidt on Thursday in Seoul, according to the Korea Times. Shin was mum on details, so the agenda is unknown. The Samsung executive also said that meetings with major U.S. carriers are scheduled for next week.

But the meeting with Schmidt comes a little more than a month after Samsung lost a major patent case to Apple in the U.… Read more