What Eric Schmidt thinks 2014 will bring
The year is almost over, and one Google executive is already looking ahead to the turn of the calendar. I’m talking about ex-CEO and current chairman of the board Eric Schmidt, the man who saw Google through some of its best years before handing the reigns back to the two original gents who started the Mountain View company.
Speaking with Bloomberg, Eric Schmidt let us in on his thoughts about what would transpire in 2014. While he didn’t have any off-the-wall predictions to make in regards to mobile, he did let us know that he believed “everyone” would have a smartphone or mobile device in 2014.
While we’re sure that statement isn’t to be taken literally, the trends have indeed shown that smartphones and tablets are gaining in popularity at a much more aggressive rate than PCs. In fact, the two seem to be headed in completely different directions, with PC market share steadily declining over the past few years. That these tablets and smartphones are becoming as capable — if not more, in some cases — than traditional PCs has certainly helped, and 2014 should bring the innovation needed to drive that trend home.
Schmidt also touched on the social networking boom, and how Google wouldn’t underestimate the importance of being a major player in that arena like they have in the past. Google has tried many times in the past with things like Google Buzz, iGoogle and more, but ultimately failed.
Schmidt wasn’t above taking the blame for those failures, with the executive putting the missed opportunities on his own shoulders. Their latest attempt — Google+ — has already been a huge success, and you can bet they’ll be working to bring us even more social innovations in the year to come.
On the not-so-tech focused part of it, Schmidt says he thinks we’ll be seeing great ground broken in DNA and genetics, leading the way to unlocking the information needed to combat some of the world’s as-yet uncured diseases. We all hope that one turns out to be true for the sake of the world’s health. Be sure to watch the video above for his full slate of thoughts.