Despite having been the chief executive of Google for 10 years where he oversaw the launch of Android, and now the executive chairman of Google’s holding company Alphabet, Eric Schmidt uses an iPhone.
Schmidt revealed at Startup Europe Fest in Amsterdam, where he shared the stage with Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook, that he was an iPhone user, much to the audience’s amusement.
Schmidt tried to save the day saying that he also has a Samsung Galaxy smartphone – again not a phone made by Google, but at least it’s an Android device: “The Samsung is better, has a better battery. Are we clear? And to those of you who are iPhone users, I’m right!”
When an audience show of hands revealed more people had an iPhone than an Android, Schmidt said pointedly: “So much for the Android monopoly in Europe.”
Whether Schmidt has a personal dislike for the devices and operating system his company creates is unclear. As late as 2014 Schmidt was spotted using a BlackBerry, because he “liked the keyboard”.
Did he switch from a BlackBerry to an iPhone? Surely that can’t have coincided with BlackBerrys recent switch to Android.
