Them’s fightin’ words, Mister Schmidt! A new report with comments from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has some stinging words from Apple over their recent string of lawsuits, with the Android maker standing firmly beside their hardware partners.

Perth Now is reporting on some recent comments made by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who claims Apple’s recent patent lawsuits are “inspired by jealousy and a lack of innovation in its own iPhone.” The comments have a particular sting to them, coming from a former Apple board member who’s publicly claimed many times to be a fan of The House That Jobs Built.

Schmidt’s comments come on the heels of the International Trade Commission’s initial ruling against HTC, a prominent manufacturer of Google Android-based smartphones. The ITC claims that the company “infringed on two of Apple’s phone patents,” with a final decision due in December.

Schmidt had some cross words for Apple and the ITC decision while in Tokyo for Google’s Mobile Revolution this week, claiming that Cupertino is simply jealous of its fast-growing smartphone rival from Mountain View.

"The big news in the past year has been the explosion of Google Android handsets and this means our competitors are responding," Schmidt said. "Because they are not responding with innovation, they're responding with lawsuits. We have not done anything wrong and these lawsuits are just inspired by our success."

Needless to say, anyone who’s used Android might disagree -- Apple’s iPhone was first out the door, reinvigorating the smartphone market like never before and setting off an explosion of touchscreen-based apps and countless other innovations that have spilled over into the fledgling tablet market, where the company’s iPad continues to hold a wide lead over Android-based competitors.

Schmidt claims that more than 550,000 Android devices are now activated each day, with 135 million phones sold since their introduction in late 2008 and a whopping 410 different models available from HTC, Motorola, Samsung and others. Meanwhile, Apple is holding their own against Google with only two models -- one of which is the iPhone 3GS first introduced in 2009.

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(Image courtesy PerthNow.com.au)