Google Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt has predicted more than a billion Android smartphones will be in use within the next six to nine months.
Google's Android is the world's top mobile software with more than 750 million devices utilizing the operating system. At the current rate, Schmidt, during a technology conference organized by AllThingsD, said his company should cross the one billion mark while "nearing two billion in a year or two."
Schmidt also commented on the antitrust investigation in Europe. The European Commission started an investigation on Google in 2010 on violating antitrust rules by promoting its own services over their rivals, which include copying restaurant and travel reviews from competing websites without permission, according to Reuters.
Schmidt believes the European Union is not looking into Android and noted the regulators should complete their work against the company within the year.
"If that proceeds, [I] think it will be a pretty good outcome for everybody," Schmidt said.
The Google chairman has previously been outspoken on matters not only concerning his company but of others such as Samsung, which rely on its mobile platform. He stated last month on Samsung's ongoing patent infringement trial against Apple that the Cupertino-based company is using the lawsuits to block Samsung from making an impact in the market.
"Now, I understand that there is a dispute over patents but to deny people the actual choice, literally you can't even choose our product versus another, strikes me as completely unfair and very much not what the patent system was really about," Schmidt said during his trip in India.
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