Eric Schmidt may not be the CEO of Google these days, but he’s still a very visible face for the search giant. At this week’s Dreamforce 2011 conference in San Francisco, the Google chairman lavishes praise on Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple while lamenting that he couldn't stay on the company's board of directors.
9to5Mac is reporting that Google chairman Eric Schmidt is one of the many tech titans appearing at this week’s Dreamforce 2011 conference being held by Salesforce.com at Moscone West in San Francisco. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Schmidt had some considerable praise for former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who resigned last week.
“What Steve has done at Apple is certainly the best performance of a CEO for over fifty years, maybe a hundred years,” Schmidt proclaimed while on stage with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. “But not only did he do it once, he did it twice. We’ve all benefited from the tremendous innovation at Apple. And I say this as a very proud former board member at Apple.”
Unfortunately, Schmidt couldn't remain at that position as Google's crosshairs began to encroach more and more on Apple's turf.
"I was on the board until I couldn't stay on the board anymore." Schmidt explained during a question and answer session, without elaborating further. (Corrected from original quote.)
Schmidt resigned from Apple’s board of directors on August 3, 2009 -- more than two years after the company successfully launched the iPhone, and just as Google’s Android was starting to make some serious traction as a viable competitor.
Update: According to The Next Web, what Schmidt actually said about Apple's board of directors was not quite what has been swirling around in the tech press today. The correct quote should actually read: "I was on the board until I couldn't stay on the board anymore." The misquote is being blamed on an improper transcription released via Bloomberg and has already been fixed at our original source, The San Francisco Chronicle.
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(Image courtesy of AllThingsD)
scotty321
September 02, 2011 at 7:26am
Perhaps the board couldn't stand you, Eric "The Mole" Schmidt, for blatantly stealing all of Apple's best ideas and copying them at Google. You're lucky Apple just kicked you off the board, instead of suing your a** to the moon and back.
