In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Google's Chairman, Eric Schmidt had several interesting things to say about the state of the tech world. He finds it "curious" that Apple has chosen to only sue Android OEMs instead of challenging Google directly, perhaps implying that Apple only picks on companies that do not have the financial power and legal clout to fight back. He implied that this was bad for the industry because it's bad for innovation. He shared the following example when asked about the "the endgame of all of this patent litigation,"
He also was disappointed that Apple chose to ditch Google Maps, and didn't understand why they took YouTube off their homescreens.
In terms of industry competition, Mr. Schmidt offered up his opinion that there are really only the "Gang of Four" big players in consumer technology anymore. They are Google, Apple, Amazon Inc. and Facebook Inc., which conspicuously leaves Microsoft out of the picture. In fact, when talking about Microsoft's new Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 Platform, he said, "I have not used it, but I think that Microsoft has not emerged as a trendsetter in this new model yet."
That's a friendly way of saying that Microsoft's day in the sun might be over. What do you think? Does he have things pegged pretty well?
Source: WSJ via Engadget
