The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Microsoft Google Motorola

Apple's Steve Jobs 'best CEO in 100 years' says Google chairman

Author

By The Drum Team, Editorial

September 4, 2011 | 2 min read

Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman, on stage at the Dreamforce technology conference in San Francisco, had high praise for Steve Jobs who is stepping down as Apple CEO to become the company's chairman.

"What Steve has done at Apple, it's certainly the best performance of a CEO in 50 years, and maybe in 100 years," said Schmidt, pictured in a cartoon tussle with Jobs.

Schmidt resigned from the Apple board in 2009, when it became clear that Google would be competing with Apple on various fronts- but admitted he was a "very proud" former member of Apple's board of directors.

Asked why Apple succeeded, for example with the iPhone and iPad, while Microsoft stumbled, Schmidt responded , "Well, there's differences in ability"- " a swipe at Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer," said AdWeek magazine.

Schmidt said there was a clear difference in the philosophy of the two companies.

"Microsoft was built around a model of control and licensing," he said. "And they did a brilliant job of making sure the hardware guys did not innovate around them. They did not organise around the consumer, they organized around the industry structure."

Apple went the opposite was , Schmidt said, realising that "if you organise around the consumer, then everything will follow."

You can see that in the way Apple hides all the technological complexity of its products to deliver a simple user experience. That's a lesson that Google has learned too, he said.

Schmidt spent little time talking about Google itself but said that now he was executive chairman he had more time to work on advising President Obama about economic issues.

Of Google's buy of Motorola Mobility, he said the deal was for "more than just patents." He confirmed that he's writing a book, which he said would focus on the interaction between the technology industry and the government.

Microsoft Google Motorola

More from Microsoft

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +