Apple and Google merger rumors
Last week Apple announced that Google CEO Eric Schmidt would join it’s Board of Directors. This led to all kinds of rumors, ranging from a merger of both companies to preparing Job’s succession.
The fact is that this is a weird announcement. From my point of view, Google and Apple have very different views of where personal computing is heading. On one hand there is Google that, like most other tech companies is convinced that internet applications are the future and that the PC as we know it is doomed. On the other hand, Apple is fighting as hard as it can to make it’s computers relevant by releasing software they hope will maintain the end-users interest in using computers.
From my point of view, in many ways Google has more in common with Microsoft than with Apple, since it is clear to me that they share the same vision for the future of the PC. It is true that MS is updating Windows later next year with Vista but frankly, if they really viewed Windows as a strategic product, they would have upgraded it much sooner. Instead MS as spent millions working on .Net and its server products (SQL Server, Sharepoint, Biztalk, etc.).
The main difference between MS and Google is that Google is executing its vision far better than the Redmond based company simply because Google can move much quicker as they do not need to care about how their web strategy will negatively impact older product lines.
So, what do I expect from Eric Schmidt at Apple? I think that Apple Board meetings will be much more interesting than before. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure that I would enjoy talking to Al Gore, as he seems to be a very nice and interesting guy, but from a technological perspective, conversations between Jobs and Schmidt should create lots of sparkles as two completely different visions compete heads-on. This is exactly how innovation is produced.