Eric Schmidt is in a good mood. The Google chairman has been heaping praise upon outgoing Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and lauding the recently-aquired Motorola Mobility, teasing us with hints of new products right around the corner.
“We did it for more than just patents,” Schmidt said of the $12.5 billion takeover of Motorola Mobility in an interview by Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff. “The Motorola team has some amazing products.”
Previously, debate has raged over Google’s patent wars. In acquiring Motorola, the Big G gained access to more than 17,000 patents which could be wielded in a patent battle against the likes of Apple and Microsoft. Meanwhile, others have claimed Google made the move in order to dodge hefty taxes.
And speaking of Apple, Schmidt says he is proud of his brief tenure as a member of the Apple board of directors. On Steve Jobs in particular, he said: “It’s certainly the best performance of a CEO in 50 years. We’ve all benefited from the tremendous innovation at Apple. And I say this as a very proud former board member.”
Do you think Steve Jobs will speak so kindly of Schmidt? We doubt it. He famously decried Google’s march into mobile software, telling Apple employees: “Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them.”
