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Google CEO Eric Schmidt will be speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco today and with his company leading the way on many fronts, I was interested to see what Schmidt has to say.So with that, the below liveblog will detail out the main points of what Schmidt talks about today. Insight into the future of the web and Google? You bet. Possible hints at where tech investors may want to look for parking their money? Possibly. An entertaining talk? Absolutely.
So, here we go. Remember to use the "Refresh" key on your web browser to refresh this page often, as updates will be coming every few minutes. All times below are in EST.
3:20pm -- Schmidt is talking about general technology issues to start -- but he picks up with a focus on mobile technology (the cellphone). It's interesting that Schmidt takes up his first focus as mobile technology -- like he has done many times before at quarterly conference calls and other investor conferences.
3:25pm -- Schmidt is talking about the prevalence of mobile technology and switches to how broadband is now becoming just as prevalent. He's interplaying the billions of mobile phone subscribers globally along with how broadband technology is now encompassing the mobile networks (HSDPA and EV-DO -- and beyond).
3:32pm -- the increasing number of data centers is now on Schmidt's lap as he talks steadily about how much data -- and how fast -- can be pumped to users anywhere around the world. TV, internet, fixed phone and mobile are the "four" things that most consumers will need now and in the short future. How do you find all the stuff you need on those mediums? Search, of course.
3:34pm -- Schmidt is talking about "thin clients" and how the shift from client-server technology from 20 years ago is happening now where central servers are doing the "heavy lifting" and the user "computers" are just devices for accessing data on a central server. He makes a point about how disastrous dropping a laptop can be -- local data can be destroyed. But, if that same data was on a web server, nothing but hardware would be lost. He sounds a little like former Sun CEO Scott McNealy here with this "the network is the computer" talk.
3:38pm -- Schmidt is talking now about all this new technology, along with the monetization of all these new business models, will create excellent investing opportunities into a mainstream market.
3:40pm -- Schmidt is asked about the Apple iPhone (since he sits on Apple's board) and he answers that the iPhone will be "the first device" that allows a "real" user interface with a full web browser onboard. He hints that higher-speed data connections are coming in the near future.
3:41pm -- Schmidt is talking about how Google does not have "revenue" meetings, but "quality" meetings. He says that in targeted advertising, revenue will always follow if quality improves and the targeting to the consumer gets better -- which is an antithesis of traditional marketing methodologies.
3:43pm -- Schmidt is talking about video now. He makes an example of how regular consumers started putting so many photos and videos online to share with others that it made online multimedia sharing almost bust out of its seams and rather quickly. In fact, it caught many companies off guard, he says.
3:45pm -- Schmidt is talking about one of the highest priorities is getting authorized content (i.e., TV shows) on YouTube while allowing the monetization of the content (buy-in from content owners). A question is asked of him regarding how traditional content companies are going to shift revenue streams from offline models to online models (like Google's advertising monetization).
3:47pm -- a question comes in about capex at Google. Is Google buying server farms for actual demand, and not planned demand? Schmidt says that the combination of server needs (based on Google's huge audience) and other infrastructure is directly related to its ability to serve its traffic. In other words, the capex Google spends almost immediately translates into its ability to immediately serve its customers, and ad clients are more apt to advertise on Google's network based on customer response.
3:52pm -- Schmidt is asked about Google being pitted against heavyweights like Yahoo!, eBay and Microsoft. Schmidt answers that the availability of the Internet directly (and immediately) affect the fortunes of these companies. Heh -- Google is probably the most affected by the availability of the Internet, yes?
3:55pm -- Schmidt is asked about how user-generated content will compete against commercial-generated content. He answers in skittish fashion but does say that content lives everywhere, not just with commercial interests.
4:00pm -- Schmidt gets a question about Google's higher operating margins and the potential for Google to make a drastic change and do something to rattle its investors in the future. He doesn't answer directly really, but does give some general comments about how Google spends its cash instead of just hoarding it.
4:05pm -- Schmidt starts taking questions from the general audience, and the first one deals with Schmidt's involvement with Apple. Schmidt says that his involvement with Apple is as a board member only -- not a strategy thinker (he defers to Apple for specifics). He does say that Google and Apple will be doing more things together.
4:08pm -- the second question deals with how Google will "break out" non-click revenue in its financial statements. Schmidt says that the difference between search revenue and non-search revenue is not significant enough to have a separation yet in its financial statements.
4:13pm -- another question deals with how the cellphone industry will soon have more cameraphone users that the entire installed base of Internet users globally. Schmidt says that this is a "great search problem" -- since all that content will be uploaded to the Internet anyway.
4:16pm -- an international question deals with how Google is rolling out its services into non-U.S. markets. Schmidt answers by saying that each country has its own government intracacies in terms of building out high-speed Internet infrastructure -- and that the U.S. and other countries are quiet different in this case (which affects Google's strategy globally).
4:18pm -- one of the last questions from the audience deals with Google's electric needs for all the data centers it has and will have. Schmidt says that it wants to have as much as its data centers operating as "green" centers with clean-resourced power as well as tapping into sites with excess capacity so that energy is not wasted. He is speaking in generalities here but gives some good information.
4:22pm -- that's it folks. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has given some cogent information here, with most of what he has said now new and some of it a little newer from the last time he spoke publicly at an investor meeting. Hope you enjoyed the show!
3:38pm -- Schmidt is talking now about all this new technology, along with the monetization of all these new business models, will create excellent investing opportunities into a mainstream market.
3:40pm -- Schmidt is asked about the Apple iPhone (since he sits on Apple's board) and he answers that the iPhone will be "the first device" that allows a "real" user interface with a full web browser onboard. He hints that higher-speed data connections are coming in the near future.
3:41pm -- Schmidt is talking about how Google does not have "revenue" meetings, but "quality" meetings. He says that in targeted advertising, revenue will always follow if quality improves and the targeting to the consumer gets better -- which is an antithesis of traditional marketing methodologies.
3:43pm -- Schmidt is talking about video now. He makes an example of how regular consumers started putting so many photos and videos online to share with others that it made online multimedia sharing almost bust out of its seams and rather quickly. In fact, it caught many companies off guard, he says.
3:45pm -- Schmidt is talking about one of the highest priorities is getting authorized content (i.e., TV shows) on YouTube while allowing the monetization of the content (buy-in from content owners). A question is asked of him regarding how traditional content companies are going to shift revenue streams from offline models to online models (like Google's advertising monetization).
3:47pm -- a question comes in about capex at Google. Is Google buying server farms for actual demand, and not planned demand? Schmidt says that the combination of server needs (based on Google's huge audience) and other infrastructure is directly related to its ability to serve its traffic. In other words, the capex Google spends almost immediately translates into its ability to immediately serve its customers, and ad clients are more apt to advertise on Google's network based on customer response.
3:52pm -- Schmidt is asked about Google being pitted against heavyweights like Yahoo!, eBay and Microsoft. Schmidt answers that the availability of the Internet directly (and immediately) affect the fortunes of these companies. Heh -- Google is probably the most affected by the availability of the Internet, yes?
3:55pm -- Schmidt is asked about how user-generated content will compete against commercial-generated content. He answers in skittish fashion but does say that content lives everywhere, not just with commercial interests.
4:00pm -- Schmidt gets a question about Google's higher operating margins and the potential for Google to make a drastic change and do something to rattle its investors in the future. He doesn't answer directly really, but does give some general comments about how Google spends its cash instead of just hoarding it.
4:05pm -- Schmidt starts taking questions from the general audience, and the first one deals with Schmidt's involvement with Apple. Schmidt says that his involvement with Apple is as a board member only -- not a strategy thinker (he defers to Apple for specifics). He does say that Google and Apple will be doing more things together.
4:08pm -- the second question deals with how Google will "break out" non-click revenue in its financial statements. Schmidt says that the difference between search revenue and non-search revenue is not significant enough to have a separation yet in its financial statements.
4:13pm -- another question deals with how the cellphone industry will soon have more cameraphone users that the entire installed base of Internet users globally. Schmidt says that this is a "great search problem" -- since all that content will be uploaded to the Internet anyway.
4:16pm -- an international question deals with how Google is rolling out its services into non-U.S. markets. Schmidt answers by saying that each country has its own government intracacies in terms of building out high-speed Internet infrastructure -- and that the U.S. and other countries are quiet different in this case (which affects Google's strategy globally).
4:18pm -- one of the last questions from the audience deals with Google's electric needs for all the data centers it has and will have. Schmidt says that it wants to have as much as its data centers operating as "green" centers with clean-resourced power as well as tapping into sites with excess capacity so that energy is not wasted. He is speaking in generalities here but gives some good information.
4:22pm -- that's it folks. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has given some cogent information here, with most of what he has said now new and some of it a little newer from the last time he spoke publicly at an investor meeting. Hope you enjoyed the show!
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