Eric Schmidt of Google Slams iPhone 6 As 1 Year Old Technology
Google Exec Chairman Eric Schmidt was asked to comment on the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus products recently released by Apple. His response was predictable and frank: “Samsung had these products a year ago.”
Of course, we have to remember that the majority of smart phones and tablets from the Samsung device range run on Google's Android OS. The co-author of “How Google Works” did not seem overly concerned when he spoke with Bloomberg recently though but that's not to discount the threat of the Apple giant entirely.
He felt that the digital device space was the fight in the computer industry that carried the most importance currently because the devices are being used by billions of people. Schmidt also felt that the pace of development was extremely quick for both Apple and Google and not likely to slow down any time soon either.
Schmidt did mention that while companies like Apple and Amazon may seem like they're competitors to Google, in fact there is quite a bit of overlap as well. Apple used to be partner on Google Maps until they branched out to their own Maps app which had a very rocky start indeed. Apple remain a search partner of Google. In the case of Amazon, they use a heavily modified branch of the Google Android OS that has been renamed Fire OS to match the name of their Fire Phone and Fire Tablet range of digital devices. Amazon also advertise a lot on Google's ad networks. Therefore, these companies are friends and foes at the same time with quite a bit of overlap along the way.
The new threat he also pointed out may be farther afield with the recent IPO of Alibaba. This Chinese e-commerce company just had a record-breaking IPO valuation and is now armed with sufficient cash and stock to snap up interesting and innovative startups left and right. This has been something that a number of US-based tech companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft have been doing for years. Schmidt was complementary about the Alibaba CEO and founder Jack Ma so clearly he respects the new threat to digital space supremacy.
