Google's Chief on Social, Mobile and Conflict
Lately, stories about Google often seem to be stories about conflict -- Google knocking heads with China or the Justice Department or Facebook. For Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, that is a good sign.
"This is winning," he said this week, speaking to a group of reporters at Google's Zeitgeist conference in Arizona. "If we were losing, we would not have these problems." Schmidt gave a few updates on those conflicts and rivalries, as well as some others. Expect to see social tools from Google this fall, he said, but do not expect a brand new social network. Instead, Google will add social components to its core products. He and other Google executives were not shy about needling Facebook for making it difficult for Google to import social information. Upon signing up for Facebook, people can import their Google contacts, but it does not work the other way around, Jonathan Rosenberg, senior vice president of product management, noted. "The best thing that would happen is Facebook would open up its network and we'd use that information to improve our ads and our search," Schmidt said. "Failing that, there are other ways in which we can get that information, which is what we're working on."