Speaking at the LeWeb conference in Paris, Google Executive Chairman and former Apple board member Eric Schmidt touted his company’s Android operating system as being “ahead” of the iPhone and iOS. Cnet reports that Schimdt’s claim that “Android is ahead of the iPhone now” was met with silence from a crowd filled with iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
Schmidt responded by explaining, “Ultimately, application vendors are driven by volume, and volume is favored by the open approach Google is taking. There are so many manufacturers working so hard to distribute Android phones globally that whether you like ICS or not—and again I like it a great deal—you will want to develop for that platform, and perhaps even first”.
In addition, Schmidt responded to a complaint from an Android user frustrated that many apps launch on iOS first by predicting that “six months from now you’ll say the opposite”.