In a frank interview this week, Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt has admitted his surprise that Apple has not sued the search giant.
In a sit down with the Wall Street Journal the one-time Google CEO talked about lawsuits, Apple, and of course all their Android partners.
Speaking to the newspaper, the former Apple board member said: ‘It’s extremely curious that Apple has chosen to sue Google’s partners and not Google itself.”
He claimed he was trying to deal with the enmity between the two tech giants in an ‘adult’ way but that things were still strained.
He also acknowledged that the public think they are like two angry teenagers taunting each other with the words: ‘I have a gun, you have a gun, who shoots first?’
Schmidt went as far as to say the two companies are “rival countries” in a way rather than just teenagers that don’t like each other. They know they have issues but have to conduct themselves in an adult matter almost like two nations or countries. It’s here where he then went on to mention, “It’s extremely curious that Apple has chosen to sue Google’s partners and not Google itself.”
Speaking about Apple’s decision to drop YouTube and Google Maps, Schmidt said: “Obviously, we would have preferred them to use our maps. They threw YouTube off the home screen [of iPhones and iPads]. I’m not quite sure why they did that.”
“The adult way to run a business is to run it more like a country. They have disputes, yet they’ve actually been able to have huge trade with each other. They’re not sending bombs at each other. I think both Tim [Cook, Apple’s CEO] and Larry [Page, Google’s CEO], the sort of successors to Steve [Jobs] and me if you will, have an understanding of this state model. When they and their teams meet, they have just a long list of things to talk about.”
Asked whether Apple and Google are discussing a patent-related settlement, Schmidt avoided answering the question but hinted that the companies might be talking, albeit remain far apart.
Read the full interview here
