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Live from Eric Schmidt's keynote at MWC 2010
We've just been ushered into the rather gigantic Auditorium 1 of Hall 5 at Mobile World Congress 2010 where we're awaiting none other than Google chief Eric Schmidt to take the stage. What's in store -- Buzz news? Android buzz? Buzz buzz? Read on to find out!
Sergey Brin: Android and Chrome OS 'will likely converge over time'
When it comes to nerd obsessions, the only thing that can trump a fictional tablet developed by battling left-coast legends is the promise of a revolutionary OS from Google that relies upon nothing but a browser and the dreams of a young Larry Ellison. Don't even start with your Korean product waifs as we're trying to keep the discussion in the realm of possibilities. Now, with the weekend over, you've probably experienced the same sense of ennui we've all felt at having downloaded and tested a copy of Chrome OS. To be fair, that meh-ness is kind of what you'd expect from a browser-based OS that's meant to get out of your way. Still, it's hard not to wonder where Android and its growing application base fits into Google's long-term OS strategy especially after seeing several ARM-based smartbook prototypes running Google's smartphone OS. Fortunately, Google co-founder Sergey Brin shed some light on this topic in a candid statement following the Chrome OS event. According to CNET, Brin said that Android and the Chrome OS "will likely converge over time," noting the common Webkit and Linux foundation of both operating systems. It's unclear when this might occur however. In fact, listening to Google CEO Eric Schmidt attempt to explain the difference between Google's operating systems in a recent CNET interview leaves us wondering if Google has a clear idea of its target markets as smartphone and laptop functionality continues to converge across devices. Schmidt concedes that it's too early to tell how the OSes will be used and prefers not to "prejudge the success" of each. "The future will unfold as it does," he says, and the open-source community will determine the natural fit. Check the interview after the break -- the Android vs. Chrome OS waffling begins at the 16:30 remaining mark of the 19 minute and 11 second interview. [Original image courtesy of Rich Dellinger]
Second Verizon Android phone to be an HTC, Motorola Sholes makes an appearance
digg_url ='http://digg.com/hardware/Second_Verizon_Android_phone_to_be_the_HTC_Hero_Motorola_Sh'; Google and Verizon were awfully coy this morning regarding the upcoming Android devices that'll be launching on Big Red over the next few weeks, but you know, that certainly looks like a Verizon-branded HTC Hero in Eric's hand there, doesn't it? And over on the right, well, that's exactly what the Motorola Sholes looks like, isn't it? Cat's out of the bag, fellas -- might as well push up those launch dates. P.S.- This also jibes perfectly with that HTC Desire rumor from last month, but we'd bet almost anything the internals are the same as the Hero. [Thanks, Berry]
Verizon plans to support Google Voice, will launch two 'game-changing' Android devices in coming weeks
We're currently on a press call with Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam and Google CEO Eric Schmidt to discuss their new partnership, and while it's mostly a love-fest between the two with no real announcements, there's been some interesting tidbits. First off, Verizon will be launching two Android products in the coming weeks -- we'd say at least one of them will be the Motorola Sholes, and while the other is still a mystery, Google says it'll be "game-changing." Very intriguing. Second, and perhaps much more interestingly, Verizon's making a big push to be seen as the "open" carrier, and flatly stated that they'll be supporting Google Voice on their network: "Either you have an open device or you don't." That's a big change for Big Red -- just remember that a year ago Google and Verizon were still at each other's throats over 700MHz open-access rules. Now? Rainbows and kittens all around. Lastly, there will be a major app push coming from these two -- Verizon's obviously going to preload Android Market on its devices, and there should be some 10,000 apps available when all is said and done. Not a bad show of support by Verizon, we'd say -- and there was a lot of talk about long-term roadmaps and a "family" of products, so we'd expect much more than just two phones and smiles over the next few months. Things are certainly getting interesting, no?
Apple and Google made informal deal to not pilfer each other's employees?
While not official, sources close to the matter have told TechCrunch that Google and Apple had an informal agreement not to poach each other's employees. Apparently, Google's recruitment division knew and adhered to not actively seeking Apple employees to hire them away, and vice-versa with Apple's recruiters. That's not to say someone who voluntarily submitted a resume would be turned away, but as one published email notes, cold calls were against policy. An agreement to not poach each other's workers, even if not codified, is part of the reason the government has launched antitrust investigations, as it can be considered an obstruction to healthy market competition. It's believed this deal came about as a byproduct of Google CEO Eric Schmidt also being an Apple board member at the time. Of course, with Schmidt finally excusing himself from all portions of Apple's board meetings, there's a chance that hiring agreement walked away with him, and really, we wouldn't be surprised if the federal inquiry also decided to leave the dinner table at this point.
Engadget Podcast 158 - 08.07.2009
The gang's all here, folks! Yes, it's been a rough couple weeks apart, but Josh, Paul, and Nilay have finally managed to reunite, and Engadget Podcast 158 is the happy result. Join the boys as they take Apple to task for its recent App Store shenanigans and the dismissal of Eric Schmidt from the board of directors, pick apart the Windows 7 upgrade matrix, and then shift into cruising gear for a run to The Shack and some quick thoughts on a trio of new cameras. Yeah, it's good to be back. Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller Producer: Trent Wolbe Song: Ruby Soho Hear the podcast 00:02:20 - FCC queries AT&T, Apple on Google Voice iPhone app rejection 00:03:10 - Google's Eric Schmidt resigns from Apple board over "conflict of interest" 00:12:40 - Phil Schiller says Apple didn't censor a dictionary. 00:35:15 - Official Windows 7 upgrade chart is ridiculous 00:45:20 - The Shack! Radio Shack's current bid for relevance 00:52:43 - Nikon Coolpix S1000pj projector-cam beams into reality along with friends 00:59:28 - Kodak Zi8: Kodak Zi8 impressions: surprising functionality, but it's still a pocket camcorder 01:04:38 - Sony Party-show dock: Sony's Party-shot dock snaps incriminating Facebook photos while you drink Subscribe to the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace Download the podcast LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast 1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com. Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @reckless @engadget
CNBC: Eric Schmidt resigns from Apple's board
CNBC has reported this morning that Google CEO Eric Schmidt, right, has resigned from Apple's board of directors after three years. This comes a week after Apple pulled GV Mobile and Voice Central from the App Store and rejected Google's own Google Voice app, along with the uproar and FCC letters that followed. In a press release, Steve Jobs said the following: "Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple's core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric's effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple's Board." Do you think Schmidt stepping down had anything to do with the events of last week? Or, like our own Sang Tang suggested three weeks ago, was this a predictable consequence of Google's move into the OS space with Chrome and continuing competition between iPhone and Android? Let us know in the comments!
Google's Eric Schmidt resigns from Apple board over 'conflict of interest'
Should have seen this one coming, right? Google CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from Apple's board today citing a conflict of interest. Apple (Steve Jobs, in fact) says that "Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple's core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric's effectiveness as an Apple board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest." Android and Chrome OS -- something had to give, but the timing sure does make it seem like that Google Voice app rejection might have really hurt someone's feelings. The truth is, it's been a tangled web for some time as far as the relationship between Apple and Google goes. Sure, Schmidt sat on the board, the companies claim to be working on new projects, and Google Maps comes preloaded onto the iPhone, but over the past year, Google's increasing move into Apple's space, and Apple's increasing desire to control every inch of that space have not been good bedfellows. It's hard to imagine that Apple could maintain a completely healthy relationship with a direct competitor in both the phone and OS space for very long, and that's to say nothing of Cupertino's latest push into online document editing and management, which couldn't have seemed very awesome to Schmidt and company. Oh, and there's that matter of the antitrust case which is currently ongoing. Still, it's a bit sad to see this power couple going their separate ways, though it does give us some hope that Google will begin a full assault with Android in earnest, because only sweet stuff could come from those efforts. If you're interested, the full PR is after the break. Update: The FTC says it's going to continue investigating the two companies for "remaining interlocking directorates," so Apple and Google aren't totally out of the woods, but we don't think anything else major is in store here.
Lessons from Marcia Brady: why Eric Schmidt should resign from Apple's board
One of my favorite episodes of The Brady Bunch is "Quarterback Sneak." In it, Marcia starts dating Jerry Rogers, quarterback of the Fairview High School football team. Problem is, Fairview happens to be the rival of Marcia & Greg's Westdale High School, and the two teams are scheduled to play in their annual big game on Saturday.Marcia may not see it (Marcia, Marcia, Marcia never seems to), but it's fairly apparent that Jerry Rogers isn't as concerned about winning Marcia's heart as he is about winning the big game against Westdale.But Marcia has to find this out the hard way, as she always does. The story unfolds in an oh-so-predictable sitcom television manner:Marcia invites Jerry in for a drink of lemonade.While Marcia is preparing the lemonade, Jerry snoops around and takes a look at the Westdale playbook, which happens to be on the coffee table.Bobby, who just got flattened by the teeter totter outside, sees that Jerry is up to no good. Marcia sees none of this. She's too busy preparing lemonade.Bobby and Greg confront Marcia about Jerry's evil, no good do-er ways; Marcia, being Marcia, is obviously in a state of denial and dares Bobby and Greg to prove her wrong. And they did.On their next lemonade date, Marcia sees that Jerry, indeed, could not resist swiping the Westdale playbook. Needless to say, Marcia's crushed.With Google announcing its intention to develop the Chrome OS, Apple has a Jerry Rogers-like situation right now with Google CEO Eric Schmidt sitting on its board of directors. Although Schmidt says there's "no issue" at the moment, the best situation for both parties would be one in which Schmidt relieved himself of his duties on Apple's board of directors.
Google's Schmidt initially opposed to Chrome, says Microsoft is welcome to port Internet Explorer on over
While Chrome OS is still a pretty rough sketch in our mind's eye, the Google boys have hosted a press conference to answer a few burning questions. Among the myriad revelations, it turns out Eric Schmidt wasn't stoked on building a browser when Sergey Brin and Larry Page brought it up about six years ago, given the fact that Google was still relatively small, and the browser wars were still fresh in everyone's minds. After he saw an early build of Chrome, however, he changed his tune. He says Chrome and Chrome OS are "game-changers," and Larry describes Chrome OS as the "anti-operating system" and indistinguishable from a browser. Luckily, they also hinted at some native development possibility (hopefully) outside of the browser, stating that Microsoft is free to build a version of Internet Explorer for Chrome OS if they'd like, and that it's an open source project. According to Eric: "Even if we had an evil moment, we would be unsuccessful." He also mentioned there were plenty of "commonalities" between Chrome OS and Android, and that the two might grow even closer over time. Interesting. As for his role on Apple board, Eric will be working out with those folks as to when he needs to recuse himself from OS talk like he already does with iPhone talk. Most of the rest of the talk was spent making old person digs at Schmidt, Mr. BlackBerry himself.
Google CEO Schmidt avoids the dog food, captures memories with BlackBerry
Investment firm Allen & Co's Sun Valley, Idaho media summit is a place for the world's wealthiest and most influential decision-makers to chill out, enjoy a couple double Macallans on the rocks, and talk shop. It might even be a rare opportunity to escape to the comfort of a competitor's product -- a guilty pleasure you wouldn't dream of indulging in more buttoned-up environments. Google CEO Eric Schmidt was caught snapping a candid shot from a BlackBerry (we're pretty sure it's a Curve 8900) at the event -- and yes, granted, Google makes apps for BlackBerrys, but when there's a phone that bears your company's own name, it feels just a little bit like cheating, doesn't it? We guess the big, ratty Google sticker adds back a sliver of street cred, but it's not like this thing's packing some furiously awesome camera that a Magic, Dream, or Hero doesn't. How's Gmail treatin' you there, Eric? You're using that, at least, right?[Via CNN]
Apple / Google relationship being investigated for antitrust violations
The relationship between Apple and Google has always been pretty cozy -- Mac OS X and the iPhone tie into a variety of Google services, Google's developed rule-breaking iPhone apps, we've heard endless whispers of Apple meddling in the development of the G1, and on and on. In fact, the relationship between the two companies is so tight they actually share board members: Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson take meetings in both Cupertino and Mountain View. That's apparently raised some hackles at the Federal Trade Commission, which has reportedly informed both companies they're being investigated for violating a rarely-enforced section of the Clayton Antitrust Act prohibiting "interlocking directorates" when it reduces competition. That sounds like someone at the FTC just noticed that Apple makes the iPhone and Google's responsible for Android, but nothing's set in stone yet -- and we've got a feeling Android's open-source codebase could throw a monkey wrench into an already-complex legal analysis. We'll obviously be tracking this one closely, keep an eye out.
Google chief says Android announcements "significant" this year
The Android buzz meter has witnessed an epic fall from grace over the past six months as webOS, new iPhone hardware and software, and -- gasp! -- maybe even a little WinMo 6.5 / 7.0 talk have all conspired to win back real estate in the mobile gossip columns. It's hard to say what the OHA's going to need to get back in the spotlight, but one part of that puzzle clearly comes from the 1.5 build in the pipeline, and another part is... well, a big mystery. In its first-quarter earnings call, Google CEO Eric Schmidt played coy about the situation, saying only that "it looks like Android is going to have a very strong year" and that the announcements we'll see in the space will be "quite significant." As much as we're stoked to see the Magic hit shelves, we can't say that we'd chalk that up as a "quite significant" announcement, so we're hoping it only gets better from here; Samsung, you have anything to say about this? [Via MobileBurn]
Andrea Jung joins Apple board
Today, Andrea Jung joined Apple's Board of Directors. Jung is currently the chairman and CEO of Avon. She graduated from Princeton University, and also serves on the board of directors for the General Electric Company, and is on the board of trustees for New York Presbyterian Hospital. "Andrea is a strong CEO and marketer and we look forward to benefiting from her insights and experience as a member of Apple's board," said Steve Jobs, today.Jung is the eighth member of Apple's board of directors. As you may recall, the last member to join the board was Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. Apple has recently come under fire about their perceived lack of diversity in the upper offices; this is a definite start to ending those comments. The current board of directors is made up of: Bill Campbell (Chairman and former CEO, Intuit Corp.) Millard Drexler (Chairman and CEO, J. Crew) Albert Gore Jr. (Former Vice President of the United States) Steve Jobs (CEO, Apple, Inc.) Andrea Jung (Chairman and CEO, Avon Products) Arthur D. Levinson, Ph. D. (Chairman and CEO, Genentech) Dr. Eric Schmidt (CEO, Google) Jerry York (Chairman, President and CEO Harwinton Capital)
Official: Google's quest for 700MHz is so on
Hear that America? That's the sound of the hammer dropping on our beloved cartel of carriers. Google's bid for the 700MHz "C Block" is on. Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman and CEO, says the following:"We believe it's important to put our money where our principles are. Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today's wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet."The bidding begins on January 24th with a minimum of $4.6 billion required for the open-access C Block. Wake the kids, phone the neighbors, it's going to get ugly fast.
Somebody, please get Eric Schmidt an iPhone
Ok, imagine this for a second. You're Eric Schmidt -- head of the most powerful internet company in the world, worth $4.8 billion dollars, member of Apple's board of directors... and you don't carry Apple's new cellphone. So what's a brother got to do to get a friggin iPhone? Check this:Walt: "... Steve was flashing his iPhone around. I held it for 20 minutes."Eric mentions he hasn't held it, and doesn't have one.Walt: "You're a member of Apple's board!Eric: "No...I'm still waiting for mine."So either Eric still has his iPhone in pocket-stealth mode, or Steve's totally stiffing his bud down in Mountain View -- we're bummed either way.P.S. -Walt asked about the Google phone, which Eric non-denial denied exists. Instead Eric just talked about phones, platforms, application layers, partnerships with KDDI, LG, Samsung, etc.
Jobs, Gates, and Hawkins: times (in approximate) for tomorrow's festivities
Ok, we've landed and have some rough times you should be ready for things to go off tomorrow. Remember, we've got a Steve Jobs presentation, Jeff Hawkins is showing off whatever Palm's got next, and the icing on the cake is Jobs (again) for a hot legend-on-legend sitdown with Bill Gates. Here are the windows to watch out for, we'll try and blog as much as our battery can hold out for:Wednesday, May 308:00AM - 10:30AM PST windowSteve Ballmer / MicrosoftJeff Hawkins / Palm11:15AM - 1:00PM PST windowSteve Jobs / Apple7:15PM PSTBill Gates & Steve Jobs 2getha 4evaThursday, May 3111:00AM - 12:45PM PST windowEric Schmidt / Google
Google chief sez: "Your mobile phone should be free"
In the beginning...we had Burma Shave, then there was Google. They've been tiptoeing around the cellphone interface for awhile now, but if you think they're just testing the waters, think again. With the introduction of AdWords for Google's mobile search service, the cellphone has become Google's next platform for growth. As hand-held computers coax their owners into spending 8 to 10 hours a day watching TV, surfing the web, listening to music, shopping, texting, navigating GPS, snapping pictures, and streaming videos, Google expects cellphone advertising to one day match their computer-based ad revenue which already generated about $10 billion for the year. Indeed, ads are expected to become so prevalent that "your mobile phone should be free," as Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, told Reuters. While he conceded that phones may never become totally free for the consumer -- at least outside of Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong -- advertising will drive down the costs substantially as it has for newspapers. Oh fun.
Dr. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, joins Apple's Board
Perhaps that Google iPod wrap was a hint; Apple just announced that Dr. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, was elected to Apple's Board of Directors at today's Board of Directors meeting. Steve Jobs was quoted as saying, "Like Apple, Google is very focused on innovation and we think Eric's insights and experience will be very valuable in helping to guide Apple in the years ahead."Google and Apple sitting in a tree? Well, probably not, but if I were in upper management at a certain Redmond based company I would take note of this development.You can look at the membership of Apple's Board of Directors here.
