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Google Chairman Eric Schmidt continues media tour with hourlong Bloomberg interview (Video)

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Google Chairman Eric Schmidt sat down with Bloomberg to talk Android vs. Apple, and the former CEO seems to think Android is leading over Apple at a rate similar to Microsoft’s growth in desktop software during the 90s.

“This is a huge platform change; this is of the scale of 20 years ago — Microsoft versus Apple,” said Schmidt to Bloomberg. “We’re winning that war pretty clearly now.”

Google cofounder Larry Page succeeded Schmidt as Google’s chief executive officer in April 2011, and now Schmidt, among many other tasks, acts as a kind of executive spokesperson for the Mountain View, Calif.-based company. During the last year alone, Schmidt talked publicly and candidly about Google’s position on free speech and privacy, the fearful repercussions of the Internet, and even robots and holographic telepresence.

During Schmidt’s hour-long interview with Bloomberg (see video above), he discussed—aside from Apple—everything from economic growth in the United States and China and tax shelters to Google+ and spectrum sharing. Schmidt is a member of a White House advisory group and supports a proposal that urges federal agencies and commercial users to share airwaves.

As for taxes, Schmidt specifically told Bloomberg that Google pays “lots of taxes.” Google sidestepped paying $2 billion in worldwide income taxes last year by moving $9.8 billion in revenue into a Bermuda shell company.

“We pay them in the legally prescribed ways,” Schmidt added. “I am very proud of the structure that we set up. We did it based on the incentives that the governments offered us to operate.

“It’s called capitalism,” he said. “We are proudly capitalistic. I’m not confused about this.”

Regarding Google+, it is a “viable competitor to Facebook,” Schmidt said, with over 100 million active users.

Get the full report at Bloomberg for additional information on Schmidt’s thoughts about economic growth and more.

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