Schmidt avoids a Gates-like disaster in DC

From CNET News.com: Eric Schmidt cut a confident figure today prior to his testimony before U.S. lawmakers, who later appeared determined to find out if Google abuses its supremacy on the Web.

The Google chairman glided into court smiling, sat at the witness table, and began staring into his laptop while photographers snapped away. One asked him if he was checking out Google. "Of course," he said laughing and batted back. "And I accessed it through (Google's Web browser) Chrome."

We saw the smooth, smart, unflappable Schmidt during the hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust, not the one who sometimes comes off as smug or makes off-the-cuff comments that have gotten him into trouble in the past. He held his own against what appeared to several skeptical lawmakers.

Senators such as Al Franken (D-Minn.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and the subcommittee's Chairman Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) dug into whether Google shows preference in listing search results to the company's own products and services. They asked whether Google uses its 40-percent market share in mobile phones to undercut competition in mobile apps. They queried Schmidt about the criminal investigation and $500 million settlement reached between Google and the Justice Department that involved allegations that Google had for years assisted illegal Web pharmacies to acquire ads on Google's search engine.

To be sure, even with a persuasive Schmidt at the forefront, it is unclear how many of the senators left the hearing satisfied that Google's business practices aren't a threat to competition.

In one exchange, Lee tried hard to pin down Schmidt on why results from searches on 650 different products seemed to look fishy. He noted that very often, Google's services or products ranked third. Lee made it clear he was skeptical of such "magical" results.

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