Eric Schmidt: you can entrust us with your information

Translation prepared by the resource OsByGoogle.com

This week, Google has released an update for the Android mobile system. Known as FroYo, the new system makes the phone 5 times faster, and has the new ability to turn the phone into a wireless Wi-Fi access point.

This update, the seventh in a row since the launch of the system in 2008, came out exactly one week after the start of sales of the Apple iPhone 4 phone - created to make another revolution in the field of touchscreens. And the practical simultaneity of these two events makes us think that mega-companies are openly fighting for technology and for the end customer. But Eric Schmidt, the head of Google, is seeking to reduce the role of this conflict.
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“We don’t have a task to defeat Apple, we don’t act like that,” says Schmidt. "We are trying to produce something different from Apple products, and the good news is that, thanks to Apple, it is very easy to do."

“The difference between the Apple model and the Google model is very simple to understand - they are completely different. The Google model is absolute openness. You can take any product - it is completely free - you can modify it as you like, add what you want, use it in any business model, and add support for any hardware. Apple’s model is the opposite. ”

Schmidt, who has more than 30 years of experience in technology, has headed Google since 2001. To the question "How does he control such a huge company?" Schmidt replies: "The word" control "is not such a significant word in Google." And to the subsequent question of how Google responded to the launch of the iPad, he firmly answered: “We didn’t respond at all.”

And even so, Google is like a huge technological octopus, whose tentacles stretched in all directions. Schmidt's concept is very simple - “Google can be perceived as a company trying to organize world information on any device by any means.”

“We talked about mobility for years and only now finally came to this. This is our strategy, see if it works or not. We like our strategy because it is a fusion of our value systems — openness, open platforms and web platforms. ”

The stakes are high. This is more than just selling a new product to customers; it is about shaping social change. For three to five years, says Schmidt, we will consume almost all of our information from online. And we will do this for devices that are dynamic, not static. The capabilities of such devices are such that they will know who you are, where you are, will be able to play videos and store a lot in memory.

To understand the upcoming changes in the next three to five years in the field of technology, it is worth simply looking back at the same period. Google acquired Youtube, launched Google Docs, took a few steps in mapping technology, and acquired its own Android mobile system, planning to launch the Chrome OS cloud operating network.

Initially, Google thought it was necessary to create a device to help the Android system get back on its feet. To do this, they cooperated with HTC to create the Nexus One. Schmidt explains: “The idea a year and a half ago was to create the Nexus One, promoting a special platform for business solutions. He did it. The idea was so successful that we didn’t even have to create a second one. We evaluated it as a positive experience, but people began to criticize us harshly for it. I called a meeting and said, “Ok, it worked. My congratulations - we are done. ” We like this flexibility, we think that flexibility is an important characteristic of agility in our understanding. ”

Will they have such partnerships to help Chrome OS get to its feet? Schmidt says: “We discussed this. There are some specific requirements for Chrome OS, and we have a couple of iron manufacturers among partners, we have established cooperation with everyone and there is open source for their products. The timing of the output of devices with Chrome OS will happen later this year. First you need to see how well things will go with these partners. It seems to me that we do not have to interfere. The desktop industry is not the same as the phone industry. The desktop industry is used to working with Microsoft, while the mobile industry is not used to dealing with the products of this company. ”

Of course, when working with Google services, the latter collects a huge amount of your data. Schmidt says that it allows them to offer more specifically targeted ads — more revenue for Google, more relevant and non-disturbing ads. In any case, this raises the issue of privacy, which, in fact, Google and criticized.

“I think criticism is good. I believe that criticism informs us, criticism makes us better. She doesn't bother me at all, ”says Schmidt. And he is aware of his problems, but he says that this is a broader problem. “These problems are real, and I'm not trying to get away from them. The fact is that if you are online all the time, the computer generates a large amount of information about you. This is not a Google solution, it is a decision of society. In Britain, you can be photographed on any corner of the street - and this is not prohibited by law. Where are the riots about this? ".

Google is under the control of its customers and the main postulate, according to Schmidt: “All of our research shows that an absolute majority of people are completely happy with our policies. And this message is for those who do not want to hear it, but still let me say it out loud: the reality is that all the decisions we make are based on the desires of the average number of users who offer their changes and improvements for our developers to implement. And the reason why you have to believe us is that if we violated the conditions, people who trusted us would go immediately to someone else. We are very unobtrusive, so we are very interested in maintaining the trust of our users. ”