Google CEO preaches 'mobile first'

Appealing to his audience, Schmidt added, "this is the time for us, now is the time for us to get behind this ... we understand that the new rule is mobile first."

In answers to questions, Schmidt said he also felt that personal mobile video conferencing "is the next interesting app" that will require powerful networks such as LTE and WiMax , both of which Google supports.

He also seemed to offer a bow to network operators who worry about ways to prevent a small group of users from sapping up all the available data . "We want to make sure the network is adaptive, as some people are consuming massive amounts of data," he said. "Realistically, they will be forced into tiered pricing."

Regarding net neutrality , Schmidt also said he wants two applications that do similar things, such as video streaming , to have the ability to run on all networks unless one of the applications is using too much bandwidth. "We believe it's important for operators to deal with too much capacity [being taken]," he said.

Given the range of questions and issues Schmidt addressed, including his stance on distracted driving laws ("people should not be looking at mobile phones while driving," was all he said) and the number of mobile OS's that will be around in 10 years ("the most likely scenario is that it grows very large and winnows down," he said), it was obvious that Schmidt has taken on the mantle as a new king in mobile, whether or not others agree he should.