Skip to main content

CEO

See All Stories

Sundar Pichai talks Nexus phones, China, AI & Google Home, more at Code Conference [Video]

Site default logo image

sundar pichai

Google CEO Sundar Pichai took the stage at Recode’s Code Conference 2016 today, and while much of what he said were PR-friendly reiterations, he did elaborate and provide more color on some of the moves Google made at I/O late last month. Of course the topics of artificial intelligence, Google Home, Android OEMs, the Nexus program, search, and others came up, and Pichai also elaborated on Google’s bigger plans for the world — namely China and India…
Expand
Expanding
Close

While Nest flails, Tony Fadell is taking a joy ride with his electric go-kart project

Site default logo image

tony_fadell

According to an alleged Nest engineer a couple months back, the company is on deathwatch. Of course the official word from Fadell himself is that all the bad PR doesn’t represent the company or its culture, but the evidence suggests still that financially and culturally there are lots of problems.

Now, we learn today (via Fortune) that Tony Fadell, Nest’s CEO, has had a little passion project going on in the background. Co-founded with its CEO Dave Bell, Actev Motors makes the Arrow Smart-Kart, a smart first of its kind electric go-kart with app controls and a $600 price tag…


Expand
Expanding
Close

Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt chosen to lead Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Advisory Board

Site default logo image

Executive Chairman of Google Eric Schmidt testifies before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing called "The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or Threatening Competition?" on Capitol Hill, September 21, 2011. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS)

Today, United States Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced plans to establish a Defense Innovation Advisory Board made up of about a dozen technology leaders from Silicon Valley and beyond. Representing “Secretary Carter’s enduring commitment to building lasting partnerships between the public and private sectors,” the board “will provide advice on the best and latest practices in innovation that the department can emulate.”

And who better to lead such a group than Alphabet Chairman and ex-CEO of Google Eric Schmidt?


Expand
Expanding
Close

Larry Page named top CEO of 2015 with a 97% approval rating

Site default logo image

Screen Shot 2015-06-10 at 1.06.19 AM

Career website Glassdoor today has released its annual breakdown of the top 50 CEOs, as voted on by employees. This year, Google CEO Larry Page was voted as the chief executive officer of the year with a 97 percent employee approval rating. Last year, Page was 10th on the list, with LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner taking the top spot. Weiner this year fell to 12th overall with an approval rating of 93 percent.


Expand
Expanding
Close

HTC’s Peter Chou steps down as CEO, Cher Wang in as replacement

htc

Just weeks before the release of HTC’s M9, CEO Peter Chou steps down from his position to focus on innovation. Chou has taken a position to lead HTC’s Future Development Lab. As for Chou’s replacement, chairwoman Cher Wang is stepping up to the plate to take over his position.

Wang co-founded HTC with Chou back in 1997 and since then she has taken over many of the daily operations within the company. This is definitely doing to be an interesting transition for both Chou and Wang as HTC approaches the launch of its 2015 One M9 flagship smartphone, Grip smartband, and Vive VR headset later this year…


Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Google Glass: ‘We always thought it would flop’

screen-shot-2015-02-10-at-1-25-14-pm

As Apple prepares to bring its new smartwatch to the market, an extensive profile of Jony Ive from The New Yorker (you can find more over at 9to5Mac) has revealed how the Cupertino company sees Google Glass. But it wasn’t Ive, Apple’s design head, that made the comments. Rather, Apple CEO Tim Cook was very straightforward in saying that Google’s head-mounted display was putting a wearable in “the wrong place,” and that “glasses were not a smart move.”
Expand
Expanding
Close

Xiaomi thinks it can top Samsung and Apple as world’s largest smartphone maker within a decade

Xiaomi Mi2

Just weeks after Xiaomi overtook Huawei and LG to become the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, The Guardian reports that the Chinese handset maker’s chief executive and founder Lei Jun is out with a bold prediction that his company could move past Samsung and Apple to become the world’s largest smartphone maker within the next five to ten years.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple and Samsung CEOs to meet in court for patent dispute settlement talks within 90 days

Site default logo image

According to a report from Foss Patents (and confirmed by Reuters), Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and Samsung Chief Executive Officer Gee-Sung Choi will meet within the next 90 days for settlement talks over ongoing patent disputes. Judge Lucy Koh, who is presiding over the two cases in California, initiated the meeting after ordering the companies to submit their CEOs and legal counsels to an Alternative Dispute Resolution.

“As directed by the Court, Apple and Samsung are both willing to participate in a Magistrate Judge Settlement Conference with Judge Spero as mediator. At Apple, the chief executive officer and general counsel are the appropriate decision-makers, and they will represent Apple during the upcoming settlement discussions. At Samsung, the chief executive officer and general counsel are also the appropriate decision-makers, and they will represent Samsung during these settlement discussions.”

The report called the talks “semi-voluntary,” because the companies did not have to submit to the Alternative Dispute Resolution. However, as pointed out by Foss Patents, “if only one of them had made the CEO available, the other one would have appeared to be less than constructive.” Apple and Samsung executives will meet in San Francisco with U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero sometime over the next three months:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google CEO Larry Page says Steve Jobs’ fury over Android was just to rally troops

Site default logo image

In a recent interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Google’s Chief Executive Officer Larry Page talked at length about his new role as chief and his plans for the future of Android, Motorola, and the rest of the company. Much the interview revolved around Android and Google’s relationship with other companies, and Page was asked about his relationship with Steve Jobs towards the end. He was also asked about the state of Android tablets and his thoughts on Apple’s recently announced dividend.

When the interviewer mentioned Google and Jobs had their “differences” about Android, presumably referring to Jobs’ claims that Android is a “stolen product,” Page claimed Jobs’ anger towards Android/Google was “actually for show”:

I think the Android differences were actually for show. I had a relationship with Steve. I wouldn’t say I spent a lot of time with him over the years, but I saw him periodically. Curiously enough, actually, he requested that meeting. He sent me an e-mail and said: “Hey, you want to get together and chat?” I said, “Sure, I’ll come over.” And we had a very nice talk. We always did when we had a discussion generally… He was quite sick. I took it as an honor that he wanted to spend some time with me. I figured he wanted to spend time with his family at that point. He had a lot of interesting insights about how to run a company and that was pretty much what we discussed.

He continued when encouraged to elaborate on his “for show” comment:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Nvidia CEO expects strong growth of non-Apple tablets during 2012

Site default logo image

Nvidia CEO Jen-hsun Huang doesn’t typically shy away from making bold claims regarding the future of the tech industry. Just yesterday Huang claimed gaming consoles would reach “tens of teraflops” (according to MacWorld approximately a trillion floating point operations a second) by 2019. He is also, however, making some predictions about the industry on the short term, claiming non-Apple tablets (Android) will see significant growth over the next year due to increased compatibility and improved performance between hardware and software.

According to DigiTimes, Huang, not so surprisingly, expects a new wave of Android tablets and ultrabooks to experience growth during 2012, while noting that hybrid devices like the Transformer Prime from Asus will also experience increased demand. He doesn’t, however, expect the choice between various tablets, ultrabooks, and notebooks to be a huge concern for consumers with each device having its own advantages and thus its own market.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google acquires Clever Sense, makers of local recommendations app ‘Alfred’

Site default logo image

Last week startup Clever Sense launched their local recommendations app called Alfred on the Android Market. Previously only available as an iOS app, the service uses a proprietary engine to make recommendations for nightlife, food, and other local attractions without requiring the user to enter a search query. Today, Clever Sense has announced on their website that they have been acquired by Google and their team will be joining Google’s to further develop the recommendation tech built into Alfred.

As for what might possibly come of the acquisition in terms of Google services, Clever Sense CEO Babak Pahlavan makes a point of mentioning “Google helps local businesses connect with potential customers and its worldwide presence can bring the value of Clever Sense to a much larger audience.” Perhaps Google services like Offers and Places will benefit, but the company has yet to make an official statement.

Below are the important bits from Clever Sense’s statement:

Expand
Expanding
Close