…because, as Steve Jobs has discovered, they will become your bitterest enemies. In case you did not know, Eric Schmidt was on Apple’s board of directors until August 2009, even though he has been Google CEO since 2001. There was clearly a conflict of interests, as proven by Google’s release of Android OS, which is a direct competitor to the iPhone.


Reportedly, Jobs and Schmidt have never been best buddies, but the latter’s defection from Apple, and Google’s moves over the past several years have really angered Jobs. During a private company speech, Jobs allegedly proclaimed,

We did not enter the search business. [Google] entered the phone business. Make no mistake; Google wants to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them.”

Has Schmidt been furtively stowing away Apple ideas, so that he could use them for Google? Based on the evidence, I think that it is hard to argue against Jobs, who has made the Google/Apple feud personal. Apple’s recent copyright lawsuit against Google partner HTC is just the first step in Jobs’ return-fire:

We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.

These comments are not directly merely at HTC, but Google as well. Perhaps Jobs and other companies have learned a valuable lesson from all of this: if you are going to make bedfellows with other corporations, make sure to stab them in the back before they can turn around and do it to you first.

Source: NY Times