Skip to main content

Talking Schmidt: We’re not focused on advertisers or competitors, we’re focused on users

Google chairman Eric Schmidt and company advisor Jonathan Rosenberg have been on the road promoting their new book How Google Works and the duo recently spoke with Steven Levy and recapped several familiar events in Google’s illustrious history, however one morsel of newer information managed to standout.

Levy brought up the fact that Schmidt and Rosenberg’s book is published by Hachette, which is currently in a nasty feud with online super retailer Amazon. Perhaps stirring the pot a bit, Levy reminded the two Googlers that Amazon had avoided pre-orders for their book and practically acted as if it didn’t exist.

Here’s a recap of the exchange:

One final question. Your publisher is Hachette, which is famously feuding with Amazon. On the day before your book was published, Amazon wasn’t taking preorders, and didn’t even acknowledge a hardback book existed.

[Schmidt] We know this well.

Would Google ever do that something like that?

[Schmidt] Well, let’s ask the question: Has Google ever done that? Has Google ever done that—in a market, exclude one competitor from an end user service? I think the answer is no.

If it came up in a meeting, would this be one of those things that someone would immediately say. “This is evil?”

[Schmidt] Somebody would say why are we penalizing that group over this business issue? That would be how the debate would occur. The way I would nail this is to say, Google believes we’re organized around our end users. You asked all these other questions, and I think my general statement is that we’ve got lots of problems and regulations and rules and politics and issues and shareholders. But as long as you’re on the side of the user, you’ve got a pretty good answer. That’s always been true and it’s allowed Google to get through a lot of stuff. We’re not actually focused on the advertiser or the other competitors or so forth. We’re focused on the user. Judge us based on that.

For a complete look at this two part segment, be sure to stop by the source link below.

(via Steven Levy [Medium])

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Google — experts who break news about Google and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Google on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel