Valleywag details iPhone feud between Steve Jobs and Google CEO

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
A Silicon Valley rumor site has detailed the history of growing tensions related to the iPhone between Apple chief executive Steve Jobs and Google CEO Eric Schmidt.



Valleywag, a Gawker property infamous for digging up dirt on tech celebrities, published a report describing Schmidt as a friendless eccentric who burned his bridges with Apple while working on Android at Google.



Schmidt served on Apple's board of directors and helped Jobs unveil the iPhone in 2007. But during that same year, his own company began work on creating a smartphone in partnership with HTC, something Valleyway portrayed as betrayal to Apple and Jobs.



According to a source attributed to an acquaintance of Schmidt's then mistress Kate Bohner, Schmidt "visibly lost his composure" when he received an angry phone call from Jobs, furious about Google's duplicity in planning a competing platform while acting out a role as a trusted partner on the iPhone.



The call occurred during Schmidt's attendance at the Burning Man festival, which Schmidt was attending with his mistress; his disinterest in camping lead him to drive two and a half hours back and forth to Reno Nevada to avoid having to sleep outside the comfort of a hotel.







That angry phone call from Jobs in 2007 was apparently touched off by reports in the Wall Street Journal describing Google's efforts to create its own rival Android platform, which included investing "hundreds of millions of dollars developing prototype mobile phones, wooing carriers and investing in other mobile systems," along with its partnership with HTC.



Schmidt was reportedly deeply shaken by his falling out with Jobs. "'Steve was very, very upset,' Schmidt is said to have later told his companion Bohner," Valleywag reported. "'My God, he was so angry.'"



Google's CEO had long worked to gain Jobs approval, and recently called Jobs "the best CEO in the world today," in a New York Times article detailing the growing tensions between Apple and Google between the 2007 unveiling of Google's Android partnership with HTC and Apple's eventual patent suit against that company.



Schmidt "never did manage to finagle a long-sought dinner invitation to Jobs' home, we're told," wrote Valleywag, later adding, "Schmidt's inability to get the sort of attention he sought [from Jobs] 'broke' him, said our source."



The Valleywag piece also portrayed Schmidt's relationships with his former mistress and with Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to be similarly unsatisfying, saying that the Google boss "aches for true friends. 'I don't think he had any,' our source said.



"It's a feeling of empty loneliness familiar to many of us who are enmeshed in social networks and broadband grids, blogs and microblogs, emails and IMs, sending so many messages and making so few connections," the article concluded.
«1345

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 82
    I think a lot of people would be peeved too if working side by side with someone and then that person turns around and stabs you in the back.
  • Reply 2 of 82
    Its got to be pretty harsh to read comments from your ex-mistress in the press making you sound like a hapless dweeb.



    All's fair in love and war and all but the way that Goog went about this really sounds like duplicity; utterly shameful and par for the course.
  • Reply 3 of 82
    masternavmasternav Posts: 442member
    Man, it is getting really tiresome to watch as Gawker's sites struggle for relevancy and hits count. This is just so pathetic - was it ghost-written by Perez Hilton?

  • Reply 4 of 82
    peteropetero Posts: 94member
    AI is now quoting Valleywag ??
  • Reply 6 of 82
    justflybobjustflybob Posts: 1,337member
    Why would anyone bother to go to Burning Man if they do not intend to camp outside?
  • Reply 7 of 82
    masternavmasternav Posts: 442member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PeterO View Post


    AI is now quoting Valleywag ??



    Yeah because their entire organization publishes like a slow-moving train-wreck that just keeps crashing. It's a guilty fascination perhaps.
  • Reply 8 of 82
    LOL AppleInsider is so ridiculously apple fanboy that they have to report on stories talking about Schmidt's personal life in negative light. "He has no friends", lol ok. Great journalism right here folks.
  • Reply 9 of 82
    "The Valleywag piece also portrayed Schmidt's relationships with his former mistress and with Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to be similarly unsatisfying..." Really? Similarly unsatisfying? He was looking for the same type of satisfaction from his relationship with his mistress as from Google's co-founders?

    What an unflattering portrayal! I would not want to be Eric Schmidt right now (except for the Google shares part of his life).
  • Reply 10 of 82
    davegeedavegee Posts: 2,765member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    A"It's a feeling of empty loneliness familiar to many of us who are enmeshed in social networks and broadband grids, blogs and microblogs, emails and IMs, sending so many messages and making so few connections," the article concluded.



    Why am I reminded of this when I read the first few words...



    Quote:

    Oh, I know. I feel all empty inside because of it. I have such a deep admiration for guys who roll around on the floor with other guys.



    Anyone? Anyone??



    Extra credit to the 1st person who gets em ... 'both'
  • Reply 11 of 82
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JohnnyRockets View Post


    LOL AppleInsider is so ridiculously apple fanboy that they have to report on stories talking about Schmidt's personal life in negative light. "He has no friends", lol ok. Great journalism right here folks.



    Okey dokey, so look:



    We've had some commentary lately about the number of trolls/embittered losers/maniacs that come here purely to revel in Apple hatred. And the mods are kinda like "What would you have us do? Opinions differ" or something.



    But here's a case in point. I invite anyone to take a quick look at Mr. Rockets posting history, which is absolutely and unequivocally comprised of nothing but "Apple sux LOL" and "fan boys suck LOL" with a soupcon of "notice how superior this other product is to your pitiful Apple junk" just to break the tedium.



    Now explain to me what this person adds to the conversation and why this should be tolerated.
  • Reply 12 of 82
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Schmidt might have avoided any emotional nerd rage if he actually had an original thought in his head. He was shown the door, and he's bitter.



    As for his innermost feelings about not finding a BFF of his own, it's sad and cute, but ultimately fails to really make anyone give a damn.



    Is his mistress hot?
  • Reply 13 of 82
    Something tells me the next iPhone will TRULY be an A+ update
  • Reply 14 of 82
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:

    Something tells me the next iPhone will TRULY be an A+ update



    It occurs to me that we might all say a little prayer for the Apple rank and file. It's not like they're allowed to lollygag about and take it easy in the best of times, but with an enraged Steve determined to shove an iPhone down Eric Schmidt's throat, it must be like a Siberian work camp over there.
  • Reply 15 of 82
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Okey dokey, so look:



    We've had some commentary lately about the number of trolls/embittered losers/maniacs that come here purely to revel in Apple hatred. And the mods are kinda like "What would you have us do? Opinions differ" or something.



    But here's a case in point. I invite anyone to take a quick look at Mr. Rockets posting history, which is absolutely and unequivocally comprised of nothing but "Apple sux LOL" and "fan boys suck LOL" with a soupcon of "notice how superior this other product is to your pitiful Apple junk" just to break the tedium.



    Now explain to me what this person adds to the conversation and why this should be tolerated.



    Totally agree.



    I think AI's board policy is firmly rooted in 1992. They need to get creative with the losers and trolls plugging up the works. I've been commenting here for years under one name or another and I've never seen it as bad as it is lately.



    I'd like to see something like a global, invisible, ignore list for the whole forum instead of an individual user. The moderators add the trolls to the ignore list and they disappear from everyone's sight but their own. From their point of view they are posting drivel and wondering why no one ever responds to them, from the rest of us' point of view, they just disappear.



    That way no one get's "punished," or "banned" (that they know of), and there is a secret reward system wherein if you are an idiot no one talks to you and you eventually get bored and move on. The normal folks are not tempted to respond to trolls cause they don't even see them. It also removes any incentive for "banned" idiots like teckstud to come back as alts because all trolls are banned and there's just no percentage in it.



    I'd also like to see the banning system include the IP address or the MAC address of the computer so when "teckstud" comes back as "TECHSTUD" he is just automatically banned. Yeah, I know there are ways around it, but it would still help a great deal. I mean let's be honest, most of the trolls are trolls because they lack the skill or the smarts to make any kind of cogent argument. Lots of those folks would need a great deal of help to figure out how to fake a new presence on the forum.
  • Reply 16 of 82
    This is just one more example of how evil Google actually are.
  • Reply 17 of 82
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Okey dokey, so look:



    We've had some commentary lately about the number of trolls/embittered losers/maniacs that come here purely to revel in Apple hatred. And the mods are kinda like "What would you have us do? Opinions differ" or something.



    But here's a case in point. I invite anyone to take a quick look at Mr. Rockets posting history, which is absolutely and unequivocally comprised of nothing but "Apple sux LOL" and "fan boys suck LOL" with a soupcon of "notice how superior this other product is to your pitiful Apple junk" just to break the tedium.



    Now explain to me what this person adds to the conversation and why this should be tolerated.



    I have never once stated that Apple sucks. Now you're putting words in my mouth.
  • Reply 18 of 82
    stonefreestonefree Posts: 242member
    Why would he drive all the way to Reno to avoid camping at Burning Man? All the rich guys just get luxury RVs out there,
  • Reply 19 of 82
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Okey dokey, so look:



    We've had some commentary lately about the number of trolls/embittered losers/maniacs that come here purely to revel in Apple hatred. And the mods are kinda like "What would you have us do? Opinions differ" or something.



    But here's a case in point. I invite anyone to take a quick look at Mr. Rockets posting history, which is absolutely and unequivocally comprised of nothing but "Apple sux LOL" and "fan boys suck LOL" with a soupcon of "notice how superior this other product is to your pitiful Apple junk" just to break the tedium.



    Now explain to me what this person adds to the conversation and why this should be tolerated.



    You're right on, but AI does not seem to care much. They seem desperate for every click they see happen. I hope they realize that they never see the clicks that do not happen because someone gets so annoyed with a thread that they just leave.
  • Reply 20 of 82
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stonefree View Post


    Why would he drive all the way to Reno to avoid camping at Burning Man? All the rich guys just get luxury RVs out there,



    It's Eric. His thinking is . . . fragmented.
Sign In or Register to comment.