If anyone at Google knows the rivalry between the search giant and Apple intimately, it’s Eric Schmidt. Made to leave Apple’s board after Steve Jobs accused Google of ripping off iOS with Android, Schmidt has seen life on both sides of the fence at the two companies.
So when he claims that competition between the two companies is more "brutal" than ever before, you know some hot stuff is brewing. Speaking in a lengthy interview with Bloomberg to promote his new book How Google Works (co-written with former SVP of products at Google, Jonathan Rosenberg), the executive chairman stated however that the "enormous, enormous racing" between the two companies will only ever ultimately benefit the world. He said:
"In fact I would say that this brutal competition between Apple and Google over Android and iOS has enormous benefits for consumers worldwide. If you look at the innovation on the Apple side and on the Google side, that competition which I think is the defining fight of the computer industry, it benefits global at the billions of people level."