Hasta La Gadget!

When you’re the Executive Chairman of a company who makes a large chunk of its business surround a mobile operating system like Google does with Android, you don’t go around using a BlackBerry. That is, unless you’re Eric Schmidt. It was confirmed this week that Schmidt, while speaking at the Activate conference in India to Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger, that Schmidt uses a BlackBerry smartphone because he likes the keyboard. If that’s not the news of the day in the gadget universe, I don’t know what is.

Though a real straight-up pull-quote has yet to be found, it’s been said by the Guardian that Schmidt’s desires lie in the keyboard of the BlackBerry he continues to use to this day. Of course there are many Android alternatives for those addicted to BlackBerry who cannot get off the idea that they need a physical keyboard, but it’s apparent that Schmidt will not be deterred.

It’s assumed that Schmidt means the physical keyboard when he says “the keyboard”, since the next-generation on-screen keyboard in BlackBerry 10 being choice for Schmidt over Android’s plethora of keyboard options, well, that’d just be too much to swallow. As it stands, BlackBerry 10 as an OS and as a smartphone lineup has yet to hit the United States – it’s on the way soon and very soon.

With Schmidt also talking about the way we must consider the privacy of others and how China is laying low its society’s ability to use the web, we must also note that one of the main reasons the Google Executive Chairman had this particular interview was because he’d just left North Korea. There he’d been speaking as evangelist for a more open internet in the top half of the Korean land mass, attempting to knock some sense into the government – and whoever else would listen – with chat about how their economy would flourish if given the chance.

Have a peek at the timeline below for more wild and wacky adventures of Eric Schmidt and don’t you dare leave without letting us know if you’re thinking about tossing your Android smartphone out the window the moment BlackBerry 10 hits your local mobile carrier!

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt: BlackBerry User is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google’s Executive Chairmain, Eric Schmidt, plans on making a trip to Myanmar on March 22nd. He hopes to tap into Myanmar’s market of 60 million people, which has the potential of being a huge gold mine for the search engine giant. Myanmar had been previously restricted from U.S. based companies due to many regulations and sanctions. Now that it’s being freed from those restrictions, many U.S. companies are gunning to invest their resources into the country.

Eric Schmidt will be speaking at a public event that will be attended by local start-ups, entrepreneurs, and students. He plans on obtaining one of the licenses that will be offered to only two foreign operators. If Schmidt is able to convince Myanmar to give Google one of those licenses (which shouldn’t be too hard to do since it’s Google), Google will be able to tap into what may be a billion-dollar industry.

Only 9% of Myanmar’s population owns mobile phones. Myanmar’s government plans on increasing that percentage to 80% by 2016. By offering big, foreign companies, like Google, one of the licenses, it hopes to dramatically improve internet and mobile usage in the country. As restrictions begin to be removed from Myanmar, and as more American companies enter its marketplace, mobile phones should become more affordable. Right now in Yangon, an iPhone 4 costs US$1,120, and a Huawei phone costs US$500-600.

Schmidt hopes to help the people of Myanmar connect to the internet and get access to the entire world around them. Schmidt will be working with local partners in order to improve the lives of the 60 million people who have been suppressed from the internet. Schmidt’s move will help improve the lives of the people of Myanmar, however the U.S. still has to remove the remaining regulations it has on Myanmar in order for the country to move forward. Thaung Su Nyein, an Myanmar Entrepreneur who runs 7 publications and his own IT company, stated, “Our hope is that the U.S. will do their part [in lifting the remaining regulations], and we’ll do our part in improving this field, and everyone will be happy.”

[via The Wall Street Journal]

Google’s Eric Schmidt to tap into Myanmar’s potential gold mine is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the soon to be released book “The New Digital Age” authored by Google’s Eric Schmidt has been reviewed and spilled early by the Wall Street Journal, this note including words from the author regarding the future digital dominance of China across out planet. This is not the first time Schmidt has predicted political waves coming crashing in before they’ve gone ahead and happened – an essay by Schmidt and colleague Jared Cohen in 2010 called “The Digital Disruption” which correctly predicted Arab Spring. Could this be the next great digital high tide coming towards us?

Speaking back in the essay from 2010, Schmidt and Cohen let it be known that soon “governments will be caught off-guard when large numbers of their citizens, armed with virtually nothing but cell phones, take part in mini-rebellions that challenge their authority.” This prediction essentially became a hard and fast real-world situation when events such as the Free Iran movement spread and was maintained with Twitter as a large proponent. Everyone knew what the green flags meant because Twitter let them know it.

In the new book authored by Schmidt, “The New Digital Age” is a section in which the next generation will see the information age take hold fully of political uprisings and movements between countries. Schmidt also make clear that he believes China will be a “dangerous and menacing superpower”, as the WSJ says. This book is also go-authored by Cohen as the essay from 2010 was, they here saying that “the disparity between American and Chinese firms and their tactics” will be putting the USA at a real disadvantage when it comes to future business and politics.

Cohen and Schmidt ass that the United States will be at a disadvantage against China because the country is not willing to “take the same page of digital corporate espionage”, for two reasons: moral values and laws. The “American sense of fair play” will be the reason China gains an upper hand because in the USA “the laws are much stricter (and better enforced)”. Schmidt’s book will be released in full with details far more in-depth than what we’ve got available today – in April is when the public will be able to see it.

In addition to being able to dominate the USA in several digitally-influenced ways in the future, Schmidt and Cohen note that China will be seeing “some kind of revolution in the coming decades”. What that revolution will be is anyone’s guess.

Eric Schmidt predicts China’s hacker war is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Earlier this evening, we reported on some information that had surfaced regarding Bill Richardson and Eric Schmidt’s trip to North Korea, where it was rumored they would seek the release of imprisoned American tourist Kenneth Bae. Richardson held a conference at the Beijing airport upon their exit from the country, which has just taken place. In the conference, Richardson said they were not allowed to see Bae.

North Korea was unwilling to release Bae, who was arrested last year on unspecified charges. Likewise, the delegation was not allowed to see him, but was instead promised that he is healthy. Richardson had been quoted by Reuters as saying, “We are going to ask about the American who’s been detained. A humanitarian private visit.”

For his part, Google’s Eric Schmidt says that he encouraged North Korea to embrace the Internet or risk suffering in many ways. According to the Washington Post, Schmidt said during the press conference: “As the world is becoming increasingly connected, their decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world, their economic growth and so forth. It will make it hard for them to catch up economically. We made that alternative very, very clear.”

During the trip, the nine-person delegation was given a tour of various technology-related facilities, as well as with students and government officials. Most people in North Korea do not have access to the Internet. In the midst of all this has been criticism from the U.S. Department of State, which said the trip’s timing is less than ideal due to recent tension with the nation.

[via Reuters]

Richardson holds briefing on North Korea trip, didn’t meet imprisoned tourist is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Rumors surfaced last week that Google’s Eric Schmidt was heading to North Korea, and were quickly followed up with a confirmation from the office of former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who is leading the expedition. The trip is now underway, with Richardson and Schmidt taking a private tour of the notoriously restrictive nation. The trip is for humanitarian purposes, and does not include any press.

The trip is scheduled to last four days, and includes Schmidt because of his interest in the social media and economic issues with the nation. Citizens in North Korea do not have access to Google (or the Internet in general, with few exceptions). During the trip, it is being said that the posse will try to neogotiate for the release of Kenneth Bae, a tourist who was arrested in November.

Despite its humanitarian foundation, not everyone is happy about the trip, and it has received a decent amount of criticism, particularly on the part of the US government. Says the State Department, the timing of the trip is less than idea because of current tensions. Not everyone is frowning at it, however, with some expressing moderate enthusiasm.

Bill Richardson has traveled to North Korea many times over the years; his delegation is reported to include Dr. KA Namkung and Director of Google Ideas Jared Cohen. A press conference will be held after the trip by Richardson on January 10 at the Beijing airport. According to his website, “details will follow.”

[via PCMag]

Google’s Eric Schmidt has arrived in North Korea is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.