Unfazed by rival Microsoft winning a race to partner with online phenomenon Facebook, Google wooed analysts on Wednesday with plans to wring even more riches from the Internet.
"There are plenty of companies using the notion of social community," Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said during an annual briefing day for analysts at the Internet giant's headquarters in Mountain View, California.
"It is pretty obvious people will be members of multiple networks; which is why our world won't collapse with any one network," he said.
Schmidt declined to discuss Microsoft's deal with Facebook or rampant rumors about Google planning to release an advertising-supported mobile "G-phone."
"I'm using the iPhone," quipped Schmidt, who is on the board of iPhone-maker Apple Inc.
Schmidt confirmed that Google is likely to bid for the 700 megahertz broadcast spectrum to be auctioned off by the US Federal Communications Commission.
"It is perfectly possible the best strategy will be to bid with one or several partners," he said.
Schmidt, Google co-founder Serge Brin at his side, vowed that Google wouldn't buy a broadcast spectrum, build a telephone network and take to selling an array of mobile devices.
"We are not planning on getting into the telephony business," Schmidt said. "The auction is a tactic to an outcome and the outcome is end user choice."
Schmidt said Google has no plans for a stock split, which would double the number of shares but halve the price.
"We'd rather have investors who do the arithmetic than those who are buying just on price," Brin said of Google stock, which was US$675.30 a share in after hours trading.
Schmidt is optimistic that US and EU regulators will clear Google's purchase of online ad-targeting firm DoubleClick, which it made a deal to buy after winning a bidding war against Microsoft.
Brin also said that restrictions placed on Internet content and traffic makes doing business in China difficult.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
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