Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google, has told the AllThingsDigital conference it would be “against our religion” to block Facebook Home from Android.
HumanIPO reported earlier this month on the launch of Facebook Home, which will essentially “take over” an Android device by displaying news feed updates, photos and adverts on an “underlayer” of the homescreen.
But following Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s head of Window Phones, saying he would be “very surprised” if Google was not looking for ways to block Facebook Home on Android phones, Schmidt said: “Why are you listening to Microsoft’s statements about Google?”
Schmidt said Facebook choosing Android to launch the feature was a “tremendous endorsement” and added: “This is what open source is about. It’s experimentation, it’s new ideas, it’s creativity.”
He said it “would be counter to our public statements, our religion”.
“We’re phenomenally happy that people are using Android in these ways. You can’t have half-open source. It’s open source. Facebook read the manual, they read the rules, and they adhered to them. Good for them. They went to great lengths to remain application-compatible,” Schmidt added.
