Google CEO says iPhone is a perfect match for Google Apps; expect more to come

While speaking at an event in Paris on Tuesday, Eric Schmidt was asked if, as Google CEO and Apple board member, he could give any information on future collaboration between the two companies. His response bode more to come from Google in regards to iPhone.

Ever the showman, he responded, "What you are really asking is to see my iPhone," after which he promptly produced it again.

"iPhone is a powerful new device and is going to be particularly good for the apps that Google is building. You should expect other announcements from the two companies over time," he said.

He believes that iPhone's success will be in large part due to Apple's decision to integrate support for the Ajax, or Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, web development technique, also known as Web 2.0. It combines the best elements of software as a service including thin-client computing, web standards and platform independence. This allows for great versatility, meaning that applications created in Ajax would be able to be used on any device. Also, as iPod Observer points out, the upgradability of OS X on iPhone allows users to take advantage of new Google-related features (among others) as they are made available.

Schmidt also emphasized his belief that handsets will likely become increasingly important to Google, noting the recent rapid growth in numbers of mobile phone users:

"It is a certainty that we will get more people online and more quickly. I travel a lot and the metaphor I hear is a mobile phone. There are 2.4 billion mobiles in use today � it took 20 years to get to one billion and four years to get to two billion."

Another topic discussed by Schmidt is that of the many criticisms of Google's security. "If people don't trust Google then we've got a problem, because they are literally one click away from switching," he said."

Also discussed are their plans for future developments in the area of cross-language translation, stating that it's importance in a world where there is a lot to learn:

"Of all the advances we are making, then cross-language translation is the most interesting," he said. "There are a million books in the Alexandra library in Egypt and only one percent has been translated out of their original language."

However, he said their next primary concern will be to add new promary content sources to the web, such as books and documents, as well as creating a more informative and encyclopedia-like search environment, such as the ability to type something like, say, "Suez Canal" and seeing information like the date at which it first opened.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog went as far to suggest that the May introduction of Google Gears, a plugin that allows offline functionality of web-based applications, may result in an offline contribution to Google for the iPhone.