December 28th, 2006
Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Google in 2006
I have often underscored at this Digital Markets Blog how Google CEO Eric Schmidt is fond of saying “Don’t bet against the Internet.� I also note that what the CEO of the world’s leading search engine really means is “Don’t bet against Google.�
Schmidt is Google’s greatest cheerleader and a consummate advocate for “everyone’s favorite garage band� (see “Google: ‘everyone’s favorite garage band’ buys its start-up garage�).
I am an avid follower of Schmidt and I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to engage in a direct Q & A with the Google CEO at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose last August (see “Google CEO Eric Schmidt on recession, competition: Google makes more money�).
As Schmidt is THE Google spokesperson, I cite his pronouncements frequently. Below is a selection of Dr. Eric Schmidt’s public comments this past year:
GOOGLE CEO ERIC SCHMIDT 2006
Confidence in Google; July conference call (Google CEO Eric Schmidt on recession, competition: Google makes more money)
the Google advertising system is literally the best place to put your sales dollars. In a theoretical global recession…I’m sure that we would benefit by the fact that our performance is simply better than the other alternatives.
Personalized Radio Advertising; June media presentation (Google targets GPS-based in-car personalized advertising)
People are in their cars…why doesn’t the car give you an ad that says “Eric, you need new pants, there is a pants store to the left�…it makes sense, the car has a GPS, the radio knows where it is, the owner of the car is typically the driver…this is possible.
Targeted Television Advertising; August industry presentation (Google CEO wants $74 billion TV ad market)
targeted measurable television ads on real television…we’re thinking about using our advertising system and our targetability for every form of advertising…When you watch television, you see ads that are clearly not targeted for you…It’s a waste of your time.
Click Fraud; March economics presentation (Google CEO on click fraud: ‘let it happen’ is perfect economic solution)
Let’s imagine for purposes of argument that click fraud were not policed by Google and it were rampant …Eventually the price that the advertiser is willing to pay for the conversion will decline because the advertiser will realize that these are bad clicks. In other words, the value of the ad declines. So, over some amount of time, the system is, in fact, self-correcting. In fact, there is a perfect economic solution, which is to let it happen.
Google Cloud; November “The Economist� essay (Google CEO Schmidt vs. Microsoft in the cloud)
Today we live in the clouds. We’re moving into the era of “cloud� computing, with information and applications hosted in the diffuse atmosphere of cyberspace rather than on specific processors and silicon racks…We’re betting on the internet because we believe that there’s a bull market in imagination online.
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