Google’s Eric Schmidt made an appearance at the Gartner Symposium in Orlando, Fla., on Monday, coinciding with the announcement of his new book. Though Schmidt did a thorough job of explaining and promoting Google’s various concerns, from software to innovation, during the 45-minute discussion, the highlight of the talk came when he focused his attention on Apple’s iPhone.
Asked about the question of security as it relates to the Android platform versus Apple’s iOS on the iPhone, Schmidt said, “Not secure? It’s more secure than the iPhone.” Schmidt’s reaction drew a bit of laughter from the audience, but he quickly moved to explain his perspective on the matter.
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“One of the complaints that the other phone vendors have made is a fragmentation argument, and that’s an easy one for them to make, but it’s in fact not true … We have an agreement with all of the key vendors, especially Samsung, to keep the app stores the same, so they’re all compatible. ”
However, that compatibility argument does not directly address the issue of security, a point that one of the interviewers honed in on by reframing the question of security on the Android platform.
Schmidt responded by saying, “The architecture I’m describing, you don’t need to lock down that phone the way you had to lock down the PC … Remember the whole model that we used to talk about a lot 10 years ago was that the cost of locking down that PC, to prevent all that activity, was far more than the cost of the PC, Windows products or anything else … It was huge problem. You don’t have this problem anymore in the mobile world.”
Even that answer can’t be considered a direct explanation of exactly why Schmidt believes the Android platform is more secure than the iPhone’s iOS operating system. But the comments did offer some additional context on how Google views its mobile future — that is, an open ecosystem versus Apple’s closed model.
Rounding out the discussion, Schmidt gave something of a preview of his next book by offering a few management insights.
“The traditional management model, where the manager sits in the corner office, knows everything, directs everything and so forth is a flawed model, at least where technology is concerned, because the technology comes from the bottom up,” said Schmidt. “What usually happens is there are people inside your firm that know everything we’re talking about, and no one’s ever asked them to talk to [management] about it …"
As for Google’s specific role in the technology industry with regards to management and the future of innovation, Schmidt said, “The constraints of successful companies are always really themselves — their ability to imagine the future, deploy it, get the people. There are plenty of other things we'd like to work on. We don’t have the personnel, the ideas. We’re waiting for the people to show up.”
BONUS: 10 Great Behind-the-Scenes Glimpses of Google
This official Google vid offers a tour of Google HQ (a.k.a. the "Googleplex") in 200 seconds. Most interesting snippet of info? There are more than 200 dogs on campus on any given day. Woof!
Offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Google from an NBC news report's perspective, this clip was shot just after Google had been named America's best place to work by Fortune back in 2007.
Google's Zurich office is up there as one of the top premises in terms of wackiness. Here, Web User Magazine has a little nose around -- be sure to keep watching to the end for a quick look at the old fashioned library room.
The New York offices look just as sweet as Google's Silicon Valley headquarters. The building in the Big Apple has the second largest footprint of any NYC structure -- so big that the Googlers get round on scooters, leaving them in special scooter "parking bays." Watch out for the LEGO wall and really cool floor map.
There aren't a lot of revelations in this Aussie clip (the usual colorful offices, look at all the food and oooh, there's a ping pong table) but it goes some way to show that Google manages to keep its wacky office set up even 7,000 miles around the globe.
While it's hardly Google's most famous office, the Madison, Wisconsin location adds a good dose of the usual Google zaniness and manages to incorporate some of the building's history into its decor -- truly a unique workspace for all those lucky Googlers.
WGN News gets a tour of Google's premises in the windy city where we find out just how those "Recent Searches" displays in Google's lobbies remain so smut-free.
And -- as we didn't see this in the previous tour -- here's a look at the cool game room within the Chicago complex. It's like your dream lounge, but with more geeks.
An insider look at a Google office in Russia transcends any language barriers, although what's with all the soft toys?
Google isn't just about the colorful offices and crazy fun. It's also about the million or so servers that keep us Googling. Here Google opens the door to a data center in a somewhat dry video that will no doubt be fascinating to anyone in the industry!
Image: YouTube, Gartner