Rumor: Eric Schmidt chewed out by Jobs, gave iPhone to mistress
While Google CEO Eric Schmidt may wield enough power to influence search results in China, this power apparently isn't strong enough to develop and maintain good friendships -- this is according to a post at Valleywag. The piece examines the persona that is Schmidt, the head of one of the most well-known companies in the world, through the lens of the events at Burning Man 2007.
While Schmidt longed to connect with his peers, Valleywag claims that he didn't exactly go out of his way to establish those connections. Rather than camp out in the desert at Burning Man, Schmidt chose, instead, to drive two and a half-hours back and forth from his Reno, Nevada hotel room in order to sleep on his cozy bed. During one of these treks, Schmidt received a phone call from Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The rest, as they say, is history.
At the time, rumors had begun swirling about the Google "G-Phone" and, while Schmidt was on the road, word of the phone leaked from HTC. Feeling a sense of betrayal, Jobs allegedly berated Schmidt during the call. "Steve was very, very upset," Schmidt is said to have told his companion Kate Bohner (more on her in a bit). "My God, he was so angry."
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/keithallison/ CC BY-SA 2.0
Well, of course he'd be angry. What'd you expect?
All of this information reportedly came from a close friend of Bohner's. According to the piece, Schmidt was having an extramarital affair with Bohner, and besides divulging his conversations with Steve Jobs to her, he also gave her his personal iPhone, which at that time, was a prototype.
However, Valleywag says that the phone in question did not go to Bohner directly. Apparently, Schmidt wasn't too fond of the iPhone's on-screen keyboard, and ended up giving his prototype to his wife. After his wife played with the iPhone and didn't care too much for it either, Schmidt gave it to Bohner. From the picture that Valleywag paints (they even add a little pity into the mix), it's not too difficult to see why the apparent feud between Jobs and Google about the two competing smartphones took the route that it did.Share
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While Google CEO Eric Schmidt may wield enough power to influence search results in China, this power apparently isn't strong enough to...
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Anyone else think that "Bohner" is an unfortunately accurate name for a mistress?
:)
You people aremissing the point. I'm sureSteve didn't even know about the prototype. He called schimdt in a tirade after learning of googles intentions of developing a competing phone/software. Anyone would be pissed. He deserves worse than an ass chewing from jobs. Google sucks.
March 23 2010 at 3:37 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replywell Google doesn't suck, but this story is definitely enough to get anyone who worked on the iPhone upset at Schmidt.
March 24 2010 at 2:13 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplySchmidt was having an extra-marital affair with someone named "Bohner".
That's priceless.
Ugh... Why would Steve Jobs give Eric Schmidt an iPhone prototype for ANY reason?!
Did Jobs not learn ANYTHING from the debacle of giving Microsoft a Macintosh computer prototype- to develop Office back in the late 70's/ early 80's?
(For those who don't know or don't remember or are in denial, Microsoft pirated Mac OS right off those prototypes to develop Windows.)
Good grief!
Schmidt was on Apple's board of directors at the time.
March 23 2010 at 2:09 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe things reported here get more ridiculous by the week.
March 23 2010 at 1:54 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWHO CARES?!?!?!
March 23 2010 at 1:43 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply-10 for posting such a vapid comment. Not unexpected, but you got the prize first.
March 23 2010 at 1:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHell hath no fury like a professional betrayer betrayed. Jobs has betrayed Woz all throughout their relationship (and has been forgiven), and left a pile of bodies second only to Gates and Ballmer combined.
And NOW he throws a tantrum? Over Google, who can't even do business properly in China when HE can?
Schmidt's not even worth it. The big bucket of FAIL in China, this whole 'can't keep it in his pants' thing. His star is on its way DOWN.
-Drunken Economist
http://mindtaker.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/drunk_economist
I think the main problem was that Schmidt gave his PROTOTYPE iPhone to his mistress. thats a pretty bad thing to do, and if I ran a company that prided itself on secrecy the way apple does, I would be pissed about that also. Anyways, I'm sure this is only a part of the story, if it is even true at all.
March 23 2010 at 1:35 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIt seems that his Steveness takes far to many things personally in the world of business. Flying into rages and feeling betrayed. I'd hope that these things are over-hyped and that a 50 something CEO wouldn't let his emotions get the better of him this way.
March 23 2010 at 1:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWhile I'm equally appalled at Jobs' rampaging in the past few months, I can also appreciate him taking things personally – too often do industrialites throw around the phrase, "it's just business". Under the guise of "business" comes much backstabbing and unethical practice. If the story above is true, I would have been pissed, too! A trusted business partner tosses around your secret, revolutionary new product to his wife and mistress?! WTF
March 23 2010 at 2:40 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHot Apps on TUAW
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