Eric Schmidt: Gang of Four Dominates Tech World

by Larry Magid

Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif — In addition to admitting the obvious that he “screwed up” during his tenure as Google CEO by allowing Facebook to run away with social networking, Google’s incoming executive chairman Eric Schmidt told hosts Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher that this is first time the four companies have exploding new platforms that are not only generating profits for themselves but also thousands of third party developers. He was talking not just about Google, but Apple, Facebook and Amazon.

These companies, combined, are worth more than a half trillion dollars, he said.

Microsoft didn’t make his list, especially in the consumer space. He said that in the past it was a single company that provided the main platform referring to Microsoft during the 80s and 90s and before that IBM. Schmidt admitted that Microsoft remains a powerful force in enterprise computing.

Amazon made the list because it’s the place you can buy just abut anything. Facebook was there because it’s where all your friends are. Google is the place that’s organizing all the world’s information and Apple is the company that designs elegant products.

Schmidt who is a former Apple board member (he resigned after it became obvious that Android was a major competitor to the iPhone) gave another shout-out to Apple by suggesting that people concerned about security use a Mac instead of a PC.

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