Google CEO preaches 'mobile first'

He argued that mobile Web adoption is growing eight times faster annually than Web adoption did 10 years ago for the desktop. Half the Internet connections are made by mobile devices, he said, noting that more Google searches are done on mobile devices than on desktops in emerging countries.

Schmidt took some tough, even angry, questions from his audience, who seemed to include network operators concerned that Google is trying to write smart applications that will render networks nothing more than "dumb pipes" that network operators can't make money on.

But Schmidt praised the value of good networks that manage applications appropriately, keeping their quality of service high. He said the future of mobile devices, including the Google-backed AndroidAndroid OS, will require a merging of three things: powerful computing, efficient network connectivity and use of cloud servers for performing an array of sophisticated tasks that can't be done on the phone alone, such as voice and visual searches. Alles zu Android auf CIO.de

Android alone has catapulted Google into the center of the mobile phone business, with 26 devices on the market made with the help of 65 partners in 48 countries and in 19 languages, Schmidt said. He estimated 60,000 Android phones are shipping per day, double that of last quarter. "We hope that growth rate continues a long time," Schmidt said.

"The basic message here, is that there's a confluence of three factors -- computing, connectivity and cloud," Schmidt said. "The phone is no longer the phone, it's your alter ego. It's the extension of everything we are. It doesn't think as well as we do, but it has a better memory."