News

Google and Apple join hands over further antitrust questions

Google loves the iPhone

Google and Apple join hands over further antitrust questions
After Google chief executive Eric Schmidt stepped down from the board of Apple, it seemed the two tech giants were placing distance between themselves to avoid further antitrust investigations.

But Schmidt has been on the air once again, defending his fellow Google board member Arthur Levinson when asked if the former Genentech CEO should also step down from Apple's board.

"I would hope not," Schmidt tells Reuters, "because I don't think it's necessary."

Schmidt insists he did not step down under any pressure, and that Google and Apple easily passed antitrust tests for having overlapping board members.

Further bolstering the close, comfortable yet completely legitimate relationship between the two companies, Schmidt went on to talk up the iPhone.

"The iPhone is our largest source of mobile search queries. The iPhone itself is responsible for 30 or 40 times more of our search queries than anything else," Schmidt said, somewhat at the expense of Google's own Android platform. "So we love the iPhone and we love the apps that drive it."

Yes. Spanner's his real name. And, yes, he's heard that joke before.