“Last week, Om Malik wrote a post called ‘Schmidt, Seriously!’ which struck me between the eyes like a thunderbolt,” Eric Jackson writes for Forbes. “Steve Jobs died last Wednesday around 3pm PT. Four hours later, Eric Schmidt was in the New York studio of Bloomberg TV talking to Charlie Rose at length about Steve Jobs and why he was special including moments they spent sitting on Steve’s back porch looking at the beauty of the world around them.”
“The next day, Schmidt was sitting on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, chatting with Maria Bartiromo on CNBC, reflecting on Steve Jobs’ life and their friendship,” Jackson writes. “He took time to also speak to the New York Times.”
“Why is Eric Schmidt doing all these media appearances? I agree with Om Malik’s conclusion, he’s trying to re-write history,” Jackson writes. “He’s trying to insist that everything was always hunky-dory between these two men, when that’s clearly not the case.”
“If Schmidt truly knows that things didn’t go down between them as he is saying, I find it pathological and scary that he would seemingly be waiting by the phone for Steve to die to hit the talk show circuit giving his view of history — all seemingly so we think highly of Schmidt as a smart guy and friend of Steve’s,” Jackson writes. ” We will see what Walter Isaacson’s book says in a few weeks. We will also see, over time, what people who were on the Apple board before and after Eric’s tenure have to say. The truth will come out.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Certain moles behave exactly like weasels.
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Google’s Schmidt: Apple not responding with innovation, they’re responding with lawsuits – July 19, 2011
Apple CEO Steve Jobs hid iPad development from Google mole Eric Schmidt – April 12, 2011
CNBC’s Goldman: ‘Steve Jobs simply hates Eric Schmidt’ (with video) – March 15, 2010
Steve Jobs: Google can’t ‘kill iPhone,’ ‘Don’t be evil’ mantra is ‘bullshit’ – February 1, 2010
Remarkable
Does this mean we should refer to him as “Eric the weasel” rather than “Eric the mole”?
the weasel-mole
Geasel
measle is fine
While I have no love for Schmidt, I watched the Charlie Rose interview in full on Bloomberg. I thought Schmidt paid Steve a fulsome eulogy. He mentioned in particular how Steve would unveil new Apple products before the board by removing a cloth cover. What stuck in my mind was the way he praised Steve for turning up at board meetings even through the pain of undergoing chemotherapy. That said a lot about the man, Steve Jobs, as opposed to the public figure.
On the whole I thought Schmidt did a good job.
I think the article argues a different point. Last week, Schmidt kept saying great things about Jobs. What they find creepy was that, while Steve’s body was still warm, Schmidt was already hitting the talk show circuit, waxing poetic and emotional about the greatness of Steve and the profound friendship the two of them shared.
In other words, to those who paid a bit closer attention, it looked like blatant, shameless self-promotion on the back of a dead guy.
EVERYBODY was talking about it when Steve died.
Schmidt *might* be using Jobs death as a reason to be a media whore…. I think that as long as he is saying respectful things then who cares… basically he is just advertising to the world that Steve was a big impact on us all.
Jobs has been dead barely over a week and already people are jumping right back into their soap opera tech lives and picking up the pitchforks against their enemies. That strikes me as far creepier and pathetic than anything Schmidt has said about about Steve Jobs up to this point.
Can’t wait for the book to find out the juicy details too… yes I’m as pathetic as the next.
Yet the article is incorrect, since in these interviews Schmidt did not deny that they were competitors and Jobs was not happy about it.
I think Ballmer and the Dude are missing the point. Sure Eric is saying great things about Steve. Steve didn’t screw Eric and Google; Steve served up Android to Eric and Google. The fact that Schmidt is putting himself front and center to extoll Jobs and paint this rosy picture of their personal and professional relationship is a blatant attempt to confuse the the truth of how bad Eric had poisoned the relationship between Apple and Google. The fact that Ballmer and the Dude give Eric a pass because he saying nice things just means that Eric’s strategy has merit.
“You are thinking exactly what Mole wants you to think”, Said Badger.
“That’s so weasely of him?”, Said Rat.
“Never underestimate a moleasel”, Said Badger, “especially an evil moleasel!”
BLN – Why, does that not surprise me.
–
The one thing thing that worries me (Big Time) is that mole-weasel wants to control over and domination of Apple, he craves to be its CEO.
His attempted character rehabilitation via revisionism will not work though. All the comments by the pertinent dramatis personae in this melodrama have been cached by … Google.
How’s that for bad karma Eric; you are destined to tread the Saṃsāra wheel for ever.
A mole is a mole is a molle is a sleazy fscking backstabbing, untrustworthy mole.
There’s no escaping karma.
I conure. No gray area here. Mole! NEVER TO BE TRUSTED! iHave been beating my iDrums for YEARS!!!! about this Fcker.
iConcur. That is what iMeant to say. 🙂 Just picked up my iPhone 4S. It’s Crazy Cool. bu Bye RIMM good riddance!
The ‘slimy part’ is the part where he assets that ‘Steve knew at some point our companies would be competing’… um.. that’s kind of a bold statement. From this point, it kinda seems like Steve didn’t expect Google to launch a wannabe iPhone OS. Bit of a contradiction there.
So Steve was planning to launch his own search engine?
Or what?
We’ll see…
Maybe because in death we reflect on the positives in people and regardless of the battles that ensued when Schmidt lifted ideas from Apple, at one time him and Steve were friends on some level.
Like a lot of us, Schmidt is probably still trying to process the real impact of Steve on the world.
Weasels can be furry and cute, and have a useful role in the eco system. They do not deserve this invidious comparison. Toxic slime or raw sewage are more accurate equivalents.
Agree! 🙂
Watching the interview, it struck me that Schmidt has about all the charisma of an android. It got me thinking…
The section on Schmidt and Google is one of my most highly anticipated section of Jobs bio. I’ll certainly believe Jobs version over Schmidt’s ramblings. There does seem to be something very slimy about Schmidt’s media dealings. One thing is sure, there is no passion that comes out when he’s in front of the camera.
Can’t wait to read the Walter Isaacson authored biography and then the truth about Eric T. Weasel will be known in the book according to Jobs. This book is sort like the last Harry Potter novel as it will be the last, I mean very last time we will feel that connection to Jobs and it will be bitter sweet turning that last page.
I still want to do a Darth Vader and shout “NOOOOOOoooooooo!!!” to the heavens about Steve’s passing.
What a turd.
a turd-weasel-mole
I stand corrected.
🙂
Gríma Wormtongu
Eric Alah Mole!!! Must be shaking in his boots. Ponder for a moment people………. Not many individuals KNOW what was written. I am willing to bet too, that Eric T. Mole sure as hell does not know what lies ahead in those digital pages. This bio could in fact RUIN this Moles carrier once and for all.
Glad I wasn’t the only one who thought it fake of him acting like all was good with him and Steve.
I’ll never forget the day (before he was ejected) that someone in the press suggested Schmidt replace Jobs as CEO when the time came. I vomited at the thought.
Sincere or not, I’ll have to admit he’s doing a good job, with good words. Guilt?….
I’m now calling this “Gizmodo Syndrome” or “Chen Conundrum” better yet “Another Idiot Full Of Himself”
The book is out in 10 days! I’m sure Steve understood the timing and knew ppl would really want to read it. One more thing to look forward to! Laser Truth.
Boycott Google!
I don’t completely agree with this analysis. As business rivals they certainly poked at each other. But I think the media, as is its habit, hyped up the supposed animosity between Jobs and Schmidt. I clearly remember, during what was supposedly the height of their fight, a photo of the two sitting having coffee at a cafe made the rounds on the net.
If we are going to question the BS coming from the same people regarding Apple, then we should question anything they say. The media loves to make a story out of nothing. Furthermore, the egos of such greats tend to lead to conclusions of hatred when, in fact, it is just the rivalry of genius (and, yes, Schmidt is a tech genius in his own right, even if I’m not willing to place at the Jobsian level).
Sorry, but I don’t buy the original idea that Jobs and Schmidt were such enemies. They were businessmen, business partners, and competitors. Reading into the relationship beyond that is speculative gossip rag crap.
Google should distance themselves from Schmidt. They were a cool company and can still be. But this guy us just no good.
Google is a company that wants to make a buck on every breath you take. That’s not my definition of “cool”.
+1
Quite simply put… Quilt.
He screwed Steve jobs and apple by stealing ideas and innovations while he was on apples board.
Eric can rot in hell.
Compared to Schmidt, even Bill Gates sounds more sincere
Could it be that Steve allowed Eric into the Holy-of-Holies based on this maxim:
“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
I’d like to think that maybe Steve had the last laugh.. .:.
Schmidt by name, Schmidt by nature.