Google's Schmidt: Twitter 'A Poor Man's Email'

Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Tuesday dismissed Twitter as a "poor man's email system." Speaking at a Morgan Stanley technology conference, Schmidt said the microblogging service has "aspects of an email system, but they don't have a full offering."

In recent weeks, industry watchers suggested that Twitter poses a threat to Google because the search giant's crawlers can't keep up with the conversations generated there. Nevertheless, Schmidt appeared unconcerned. "To me, the question about companies like Twitter is: Do they fundamentally evolve as sort of a note phenomenon, or do they fundamentally evolve to have storage, revocation, identity, and all the other aspects that traditional email systems have? Or do email systems themselves broaden what they do to take on some of that characteristic?"

After dismissing the service for its simplicity, Schmidt rather disingenuously praised Twitter before plugging GoogleTalk. "I think the innovation is great," he said. "In Google's case, we have a very successful instant messaging product, and that's what most people end up using...Twitter's success is wonderful, and I think it shows you that there are many, many new ways to reach and communicate, especially if you are willing to do so publicly." more 

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